Trump Signs Scaled-Back AI Executive Order

President Donald Trump has signed a scaled-back version of an executive order governing AI that he had shelved less than two weeks ago, after senior aides persuaded him that the administration could not indefinitely delay establishing a framework for the technology, according to two officials familiar with the matter.

The revised order gives the federal government access to the most advanced artificial intelligence models 30 days before their public release, down from an earlier proposal that would have required companies to provide access 90 days in advance.

Beyond shortening the review period, the administration made few substantive changes to the original text. Trump approved the revised order Monday night following a high-level White House meeting. Aides drafted the final language Tuesday morning, the two officials tell WIRED.

The executive order is the first major AI regulation directive of Trump's second term and reflects growing concern inside the administration that increasingly powerful systems, including Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5, could be exploited to carry out cyberattacks against critical infrastructure.

The order does not implement formal regulation but establishes a voluntary process to determine which AI models are the most powerful, and then gives the US government exclusive access for 30 days to give officials time to identify and address potential vulnerabilities before they are released publicly.

The move also represents a victory for White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who worked with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross to revive the proposal, sources tell WIRED, despite initial resistance from Trump's former AI czar David Sacks, a leading skeptic of government intervention in the sector.

With the order now in place, Bessent can begin exploring discussions with China about creating a similar cross-border framework for advanced AI systems, according to a person familiar with the matter. Those talks had been on hold while the administration settled its domestic policy, WIRED previously reported.

White House spokesperson Liz Huston says the executive order reflected Trump‘s “common-sense approach of collaborating with industry to balance innovation and security, cementing America’s continued global dominance in AI and cybersecurity.”

Some of the larger AI companies signaled their support for the executive order on Tuesday. “This Executive Order is an important step in strengthening America’s leadership in AI. We look forward to collaborating with the White House to support its implementation,” Anthropic wrote in a post on X.

Trump had scrapped an earlier version of the order on May 21 after AI companies, and Sacks, warned that a 90-day review window would be too burdensome for a rapidly evolving industry, according to people familiar with the discussions.

But executives at several of the largest AI firms told the administration that their models were only becoming more sophisticated and powerful, meaning the White House could not simply put off an executive order forever, the people say.

Administration officials then worked on the matter through the weekend ahead of a high-level White House meeting on Monday, they added. Wiles and Bessent were among those at the meeting, as well as Sacks who was dialed in.

White House aides involved in the process told some AI companies they expected Trump to eventually sign off a framework, but they were uncertain about a timeline. In the end, Trump felt there was enough industry buy-in for a 30 day window and gave his approval Monday night, the people say.

The order calls for a number of federal agencies to create a classified process to determine for which AI models the US government would want access, and select other “trusted partners” that can also get early access to those frontier models.

Beyond the early-access framework, the order directs the Pentagon to shore up its classified networks within 30 days and directs the Justice Department to bring criminal cases against people who use AI models to hack computer systems.

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