Donald Trump signs an executive order on advanced AI innovation and security

Donald Trump signed an executive order directing CISA and the NSA to secure US networks and evaluate the cyber capabilities of covered frontier models.

A presidential executive order signed by Donald Trump establishes a series of measures intended, according to the text, to foster AI innovation while limiting regulation and strengthening national cybersecurity. The main component mobilizes several federal agencies within 30-to-60-day timeframes. CISA, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, is to issue guidelines to accelerate the cyber defense of federal civilian systems, while the Department of War and the committee responsible for national security systems prioritize the protection of their own networks. The Treasury Department is tasked with creating a clearinghouse bringing together, on a voluntary basis, the AI industry and critical infrastructure operators, to coordinate the detection of software vulnerabilities and the dissemination of patches. The executive order also provides for facilitating access for entities such as rural hospitals or local banks to cybersecurity tools, including, where appropriate, so-called "covered frontier models."

Another section establishes a classified benchmarking process, entrusted to the NSA, to evaluate the cyber capabilities of models and to set the threshold at which one of them falls into this category. Affected developers could, on a voluntary basis, grant the government access up to thirty days before these models are made available to other trusted partners. The text specifies, however, that it does not establish any licensing or prior authorization requirement for publishing new models. Finally, the Attorney General is invited to strengthen prosecutions against the use of AI for computer hacking purposes.