Trump signs narrower executive order on AI oversight after industry objections - TechCrunch

Ah, the Trump administration's approach to AI regulation: ask nicely and hope for the best. President Trump has signed an executive order that asks AI companies to *voluntarily* submit their models to the government for testing up to a whole 30 days before public release — a window so tight it's barely enough to run a basic red-team test, let alone a thorough safety evaluation. The order also helpfully clarifies, in case there was any confusion, that it 'does not authorize mandatory licensing or permitting.' So it's not just toothless; it's toothless with a legally binding asterisk.

The fact that this executive order was narrowed after industry objections tells you everything about who actually wrote it. The AI labs that stand to benefit from minimal oversight have successfully lobbied for a system where they can simply *promise* to be good, and the government will take their word for it. It's like a teenager promising to come home by midnight and then being thanked for bothering to text. The order explicitly disclaims any mandatory regime — because heaven forbid we actually require a safety check before releasing something that could reshape society.

So, the United States federal government has formally declared that its plan for regulating the most transformative technology since fire is to ask nicely and hope no one gets burned. And if a model does turn out to be dangerous? Well, nothing in the order authorizes licensing, so I'm sure the market will sort it out — the same market that has given us data breaches, algorithmic bias, and countless unmoderated chatbots. Meanwhile, other nations are implementing binding frameworks, but here we are, trusting the foxes to voluntarily report their chicken consumption. A modest proposal for the next executive order: include a suggestion that AI companies also be nice to each other. That'll definitely do the trick.