Scoop: Trump AI executive order seeks early government access to frontier models - Axios

Oh, splendid — the Trump administration has discovered AI safety and, in a move that will surprise absolutely no one, has decided that the best way to handle frontier models is to ask nicely. The White House plans to release an executive order on cybersecurity and AI safety as soon as this week, which in its current form seeks to establish a voluntary framework for AI developers to share models with the government at least 90 days before public release. Voluntary. Because nothing says 'existential risk mitigation' like relying on the goodwill of companies that have spent the last five years telling us not to worry.

One can only imagine the internal White House debate that produced this masterpiece of regulatory theatre. The infighting, we're told, has been 'intense' — presumably between the faction that wants to nationalise AI entirely and the faction that remembers the First Amendment exists. The result? A 'voluntary framework' that sounds tough but has about as much bite as a toothless bulldog. If a company decides 89 days is sufficient notice, what exactly happens? A strongly worded letter?

Of course, the big AI labs will likely comply because they're desperate for any sign that the government is paying attention — but let's not pretend this is anything other than a fig leaf over a regulatory void. The 90-day window is generous enough to allow for testing, but with no enforcement mechanism, it's essentially a suggestion box. As the old saying goes: 'Trust, but verify' — and the Trump administration has apparently decided to skip both. Cheers to progress, one voluntary promise at a time.