U.S. President Donald Trump points his finger as he signs an executive order on AI next to U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. Dec. 11, 2025.
Al Drago | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order asking artificial intelligence companies to provide models to the federal government to assess their capabilities ahead of a full release.
The order asks companies, on a voluntary basis, to participate in a benchmarking process to assess a model’s “advanced cyber capabilities” and determine whether it should be considered a “covered frontier model.” It then asks for access to those models up to 30 days before the companies plan to release them more broadly, and enables the government to help select the “trusted partners” that will receive early access.
“Nothing in this section 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, including frontier models,” the order said.
Trump signed the order in private, just weeks after he postponed a signing ceremony with prominent tech CEOs because he “didn’t like certain aspects of it,” he told reporters at the time.
Tuesday’s order, which is thin on specific details, lands at a pivotal moment for AI development in the U.S.
On Monday, Claude developer Anthropic said it confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO, and rival OpenAI is also gearing up for a potential offering this year.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns his AI lab SpaceXAI, is poised to beat both of them to the public market, with a debut set to take place as soon as next week that could value the company at well over $1 trillion.
The tech industry, which has seen fortunes soar during the AI boom, has played a central role in the White House’s positions on AI.
Venture capitalist David Sacks, a longtime ally of Musk’s, served as the first crypto and AI czar before that role came to an end earlier this year. But Sacks, along with Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, reportedly called the Trump administration last month to lobby against the prior AI executive order the president was prepared to sign.
The Tuesday order also comes after Anthropic captivated government officials and Wall Street earlier this year by announcing Claude Mythos Preview, a model that excels at identifying weaknesses and security flaws within software. The company limited the rollout to a select group of companies as part of a cybersecurity initiative called Project Glasswing, which it expanded on Tuesday.
The launch of Mythos prompted several high-profile meetings between Anthropic and senior members of the Trump administration, including Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Trump’s AI order outlines several timeframes to develop directives and other guidance, specifically calling on the Department of Defense to prioritize the cyber defense of its information systems.
The DOD has actively tried to distance itself from Anthropic’s frontier models, having labeled the startup a supply chain risk shortly before it released Mythos. The designation means Anthropic purportedly threatens U.S. national security, and it prohibits defense contractors from using the company’s technology in their work with the agency.
Anthropic sued the Trump administration to try and reverse that designation, and that litigation is still ongoing.
WATCH: Trump signs AI executive order asking companies to give government early access to models
