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The Trump administration has announced plans to reorganize the U.S. AI Safety Institute (AISI) into the new Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). Set up by the Biden administration in 2023, AISI operated within the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) to research risks in widely-used AI systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude. The move to dismantle the body had been expected for some time. In February, as JD Vance headed to France for a major AI summit, his delegation did not include anyone from the AI Safety Institute, Reuters reported at the time. The agency’s inaugural director Elizabeth Kelly had stepped down earlier in the month.
The Commerce Department’s announcement marking the change is thin on details about the reorganization, but it appears the aim is to favor innovation over red tape.
“For far too long, censorship and regulations have been used under the guise of national security. Innovators will no longer be limited by these standards. CAISI will evaluate and enhance U.S. innovation of these rapidly developing commercial AI systems while ensuring they remain secure to our national security standards,” said Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
What could be gleaned from Lutnick’s paradoxical phrasing – national security-focused standards are limiting, but America needs national security-focused standards – is that it’s very difficult to tell just how much the new body will differ from the old one. The announcement goes on to state that CAISI will “assist industry to develop voluntary standards” in AI, which summed up much of what the old body did. Similarly, just as the AI Safety Institute was tasked with assessing risks in artificial intelligence, CAISI will “lead unclassified evaluations of AI capabilities that may pose risks to national security.” CAISI will also still be a part of NIST. And, despite Lutnick’s apparent disdain for standards, the Commerce press release concludes that CAISI will “ensure U.S. dominance of international AI standards.”
That there’s little obvious change between the Institute and CAISI might alleviate any immediate concerns the U.S. is abandoning commitments to keep AI safe. Just earlier this year, a coalition of companies, nonprofits and academics called on Congress to codify the Institute’s existence before the year was up. That included major players like OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which had agreements to work with the agency on research projects. What happens to those is now up in the air. The Commerce Department hadn’t responded to a series of questions at the time of publication, and NIST declined to comment.
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THE BIG STORY:
Federal Authorities Probe Effort To Impersonate White House Chief of Staff
Unknown individuals have impersonated President Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles in calls and texts to Republican lawmakers and business executives. Investigators suspect the perpetrators used artificial intelligence to clone Wiles’ voice. One lawmaker was asked by the impersonator to assemble a list of individuals for potential presidential pardons, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It’s unclear that motives lay behind the impersonation, or how they pulled the stunt off. Wiles had told confidantes that some of her contacts from her personal phone had been stolen by a hacker.
Stories You Have To Read Today
A Texas police officer searched Flock Safety’s AI-powered surveillance camera network to track down a woman who had carried out a self-administered abortion, 404 Media reports. Because the search was conducted across different states, experts raised concerns about police using Flock to track down individuals getting abortions in states where it’s legal before going back home to a state where it’s illegal. The cops said they were simply worried about the woman’s safety.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, a 28-year-old IT specialist at the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been arrested and charged with leaking state secrets after becoming upset at the Trump administration. The DOJ did not specify to which country Laatsch allegedly tried to pass secrets, sources told the Washington Post it was Germany. He was caught out by undercover agents posing as interested parties, according to the DOJ.
Winner of the Week
Europol announced it had identified more than 2,000 links “pointing to jihadist and right-wing violent extremist and terrorist propaganda targeting minors.” The agency warned that it had seen terrorists using AI to generate content like short videos and memes “designed to resonate with younger audiences.”
Loser of the Week
A 63-year-old British man, John Miller, was charged alongside a Chinese national by the Department of Justice with conspiring to ship missiles, air defense radar, drones and unspecified “cryptographic devices” to China. They’re also charged with trying to stalk and harass an individual who was planning protests against Chinese president Xi.
