Trump Ponders Executive Order to Police AI Industry, Echoing Authoritarian Overreach

In a move that reeks of authoritarian overreach, the Trump administration is reportedly considering an executive order to establish a government-industry “A.I. working group” tasked with vetting new artificial intelligence models. According to a New York Times report citing anonymous sources “briefed on the conversations,” this group would include representatives from tech giants like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, alongside government agencies such as the NSA, the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, and the office of the director of national intelligence.

The proposed working group would not only discuss oversight plans but could also determine which government agencies get involved in the review process—effectively handing AI regulation to an opaque and potentially unaccountable body. This raises serious questions about transparency, democratic oversight, and the potential for censorship under the guise of “national security.”

Notably, this is not the first federal attempt to regulate AI. Under President Biden, the National Institute of Standards and Technology created the Center for A.I. Standards and Innovation (CAISI) specifically to vet AI models. However, CAISI’s mission was reportedly altered shortly after Trump assumed office. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared at the time that “censorship and regulations” would no longer stifle innovation, framing CAISI’s role as one that promotes U.S. AI innovation while maintaining “national security standards.” The ambiguous language leaves room for unchecked government interference.

This new executive order proposal also conflicts with a recent Trump White House policy document titled “A National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” which favored minimal regulations and largely rejected burdensome oversight. That framework echoed Vice President J.D. Vance’s nationalist, deregulated vision for AI dominance, dismissing concerns from European and other international regulators as “nanny state” interference.

Yet the current plan reportedly draws inspiration from Britain’s approach, where multiple government agencies, including financial and cybersecurity regulators, are actively vetting AI models for safety and risk. British regulators scrambled last month after previewing Anthropic’s unreleased Claude Mythos Preview model, deemed too risky for public release due to cybersecurity concerns.

The Trump administration’s pivot toward a formal vetting and oversight regime for AI models signals a troubling trend: wielding national security as a justification to centralize control over emerging technologies. Given this administration’s track record of weaponizing executive power to suppress dissent and evade accountability, this AI oversight plan demands scrutiny and resistance from advocates of transparency, innovation, and democratic governance.

We will be watching closely as this story develops. The stakes are high: AI is reshaping our world, and who controls its development matters profoundly for civil liberties, economic power, and the future of democracy itself.