Trump issues executive order promoting advanced AI innovation and security

The executive order establishes the policy of the United States to promote AI innovation and security by working collaboratively with the private sector. It directs the modernization of government and private sector information systems and their hardening against external threats. The policy also calls for protecting American ingenuity and intellectual property from exploitation and theft by adversaries while cultivating advanced AI-enabled capabilities. Within 30 days of the date of the order the Committee on National Security Systems shall prioritize the cyber defense of national security systems. The Secretary of War shall prioritize the cyber defense of Department of War information systems. The Secretary of Homeland Security through the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency shall release binding operational directives to expedite cyber defense of civilian federal government information systems, establish federal programs that enhance AI-enabled defensive tools, and facilitate access to cybersecurity tools including covered frontier models for agencies, state and local authorities, and operators of critical infrastructure. The Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with others shall form an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse in voluntary collaboration with the AI industry and operators of critical infrastructure. The clearinghouse is to coordinate and deconflict scanning for software vulnerabilities, discover and validate such vulnerabilities, and coordinate and prioritize remediation and distribution of vulnerability patches. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget in coordination with others shall determine whether any federal grant programs have available funding that can be directed toward applicants developing advanced AI vulnerability detection. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall expand the United States Tech Force Information Cybersecurity Specialist hiring and placement pathways within 60 days of the date of the order. Within 60 days of the date of the order the designated secretaries and directors are to develop and maintain a classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models and determine the threshold at which an AI model should be designated a covered frontier model. They are also to design a voluntary framework with AI developers through which developers may engage the federal government to determine whether models under development meet the designation and provide access subject to appropriate protections. The order states that nothing in the section on secure frontier model deployment shall be construed to authorize the creation of a mandatory governmental licensing, preclearance, or permitting requirement for the development, publication, release, or distribution of new AI models. The Attorney General shall prioritize the enforcement of specified federal criminal laws against anyone who utilizes AI to illegally access or damage a computer without authorization or who utilizes AI while engaged in such illegal access to further any other crime.