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.
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.
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 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Trump’s AI order outlines several time frames 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 ongoing.
Trump posts AI video depicting him throwing Colbert in a dumpster and dancing
President Trump late Friday shared an AI-generated video depicting him throwing former late night host Stephen Colbert into a dumpster and subsequently dancing — the latest instance of the president using artificial intelligence to mock his enemies.
The video, posted to Truth Social, shows Colbert onstage for the taping of the last episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” before Trump walks up behind him, grabs him by his shoulders and tosses him into a dumpster. Trump closes the lid to the dumpster and starts dancing to the Village People’s “YMCA.”
The official White House account on the social platform X also shared the video, with the caption, “Bye-bye.”
The president had already celebrated the end of “The Late Show,” which concluded Thursday night after he previously championed Paramount Skydance’s decision to fire the comedian.
“Colbert is finally finished at CBS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier on Friday. “Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”
Trump also wrote that Colbert’s exit was the “beginning of the end” for the other late night hosts critical of Trump.
“Others, of even less talent, to soon follow,” Trump said. “May they all Rest in Peace!”
Colbert on Thursday wrapped up his 11 years on CBS with no jokes on politics, instead featuring several cameos from various actors and comedians. He joined ex-Beatle Paul McCartney in signing off with a rendition of “Hello, Goodbye.”
McCartney recalled being with the other Beatles on the same stage on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964 and how bewildered they all were by the U.S.
“The land of the free, the greatest democracy,” McCartney said. “That was what it was, and still is, hopefully.”
Paramount, CBS’s parent company, canceled “The Late Show” last year. The media conglomerate is owned by Larry and David Ellison, the father and son business leaders who are Trump’s allies.
Paramount cited financial considerations in its decision to cancel Colbert’s show. But critics saw the cancellation as a capitulation to the Trump administration, which had control over the Paramount-Skydance merger. Trump has also praised the direction that the company has taken CBS News.
