Exclusive: Democrats press White House on still-secret AI framework
It’s the latest indication that Democrats are not giving up on a sustained push for answers from the administration. Two Democratic senators want answers from Trump administration officials on industry influence on the still-unreleased AI regulatory framework, part of the AI executive order President Donald Trump signed earlier this year, according to a letter shared first with Semafor. “We are concerned that the Trump administration is accommodating the interests of Big Tech CEOs rather than addressing the safety and security risks posed by increasingly sophisticated AI systems,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote in the letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House cyber adviser Sean Cairncross, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, among others. The letter cites reported industry influence over what eventually became the executive order. It also highlights Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s central role in shaping the more recent White House AI accord, pointing to the administration’s “cozy relationship” with and “deference to industry executives.” The letter is the latest indication that Democrats are not giving up on a sus
It’s the latest indication that Democrats are not giving up on a sustained push for answers from the administration. Two Democratic senators want answers from Trump administration officials on industry influence on the still-unreleased AI regulatory framework, part of the AI executive order President Donald Trump signed earlier this year, according to a letter shared first with Semafor. “We are concerned that the Trump administration is accommodating the interests of Big Tech CEOs rather than addressing the safety and security risks posed by increasingly sophisticated AI systems,” Sens.
, wrote in the letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House cyber adviser Sean Cairncross, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, among others. The letter cites reported industry influence over what eventually became the executive order. ” The letter is the latest indication that Democrats are not giving up on a sustained push for answers from the administration on what is still a mysterious, voluntary framework for AI companies to submit their highest-level AI models to the government before release. Should the party gain power back in Congress, its demands will have more teeth.
“The American people deserve strong guardrails set by democratically elected officials, not a toothless framework shaped in secret by a handful of billionaires,” Warren and Blumenthal wrote Monday, pressing for answers to five questions by Oct. 19. They asked for details on meetings and correspondence between industry and government officials leading up to the release of the executive order in June. They also want to know whether independent evaluators or other stakeholders beyond industry were consulted, and demanded a description of the pre-deployment testing process established under the framework.