White House postpones signing of AI executive order
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on May 20, 2026, as he returns to Washington, DC, after delivering the commmencement address to the US Coast Guard Academy's 2026 graduating class. Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images
The order is expected to establish a voluntary framework for the government to view AI models ahead of release.
The White House postponed a highly anticipated signing of an artificial intelligence executive order, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
The order was expected to task national security and civilian agencies with various steps to shore up federal government network defenses using AI models and, notably, establish a voluntary framework for the government to view AI models ahead of release.
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide the details. It’s not entirely clear why the signing was postponed, though some of the people said that multiple tech CEOs expected to attend the order’s Thursday afternoon signing ceremony could not make it.
President Donald Trump expressed misgivings about the order, particularly on Chinese AI competition, according to an Oval Office press report.
“I didn’t like certain aspects of it, I postponed it. I think it gets in the way of, you know, we’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead. We have a very substantial standard on AI, it's causing — it's causing tremendous good, and it's also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs,” Trump said. “Again, we have more people working right now than we’ve ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker.”
Editor's note: This story was updated to include remarks from President Donald Trump