Following reports by The New York Times that the US government was considering tightening its oversight of the AI industry, Google, Microsoft, and xAI have signed agreements to provide the federal government with early access to their AI systems. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) will evaluate new models developed by these companies.
“Independent, rigorous measurement science is essential to understanding frontier AI and its national security implications,” CAISI director Chris Fall told The Journal. “These expanded industry collaborations help us scale our work in the public interest at a critical moment.” The deal reportedly requires Google, Microsoft, and xAI to provide their models to CAISI with reduced or even disabled safeguards, enabling the organization to probe them for national security-related capabilities and risks.
This agreement comes amidst reports that the US government was looking to introduce new AI regulations. The White House was reportedly considering creating a working group to oversee the development of future AI models, with the committee empowered to review new models ahead of their public release. While this new approach might initially appear to diverge from a laissez-faire regulatory path, it aligns with a consistent effort by the US government to influence the AI industry's trajectory.
For instance, developments since the Pentagon’s feud with Anthropic—where the defense department sought to label the company a supply chain risk after it insisted on safeguards to prevent its technology from being used for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons—can be traced back to an executive order signed by a previous administration. The “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government” order prohibited federal agencies from procuring AI systems that “manipulate responses in favor of ideological dogmas such as DEI.” This established an ideological test for companies, which Anthropic subsequently failed. Consequently, it is unsurprising that many companies have chosen to sign agreements with the federal government rather than undergo similar scrutiny.