White House Keeps AI Testing Rules Secret, Surprising Tech Experts

The Trump administration has created a new set of rules for how the government tests AI systems made by private companies. But instead of sharing those rules with everyone, officials decided to keep them secret. This surprised many people in the tech policy world, who had waited months to find out how the process would work.

The rules, called a 'framework,' were supposed to explain how the government would test powerful AI models before companies release them to the public. Experts in the industry hoped the framework would clear up months of confusion about how much say the government has over new AI releases. Many people believed that having clear rules would help companies and the government work together more smoothly.

The White House held a private meeting on a Tuesday to brief some of the biggest AI companies about the framework. Representatives from Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft attended the meeting. Staff from Nvidia and a few smaller companies also showed up, according to the Forbes news outlet.

At the meeting, attendees were told not to expect the framework to be made public. This came as a surprise to many who were hoping for clear answers. Neil Chilson, the head of AI policy at the Abundance Institute, said the secrecy makes it harder for companies to understand what is expected of them. He said, 'The fact that the framework is not going to be public makes that harder to get right.'

Part of the framework includes a secret process for testing how well AI models can be used for cyber activities, like hacking. Government agencies were given 60 days to build this testing system. Because it deals with sensitive security topics, those results were always expected to stay secret.

However, the original order also called for a 'voluntary framework.' This part was supposed to explain how a company could be labeled a 'covered frontier model' and work with the government as a trusted partner. It was also meant to describe how some companies could get early access to new AI models before the public sees them. It is still unclear whether companies that did not attend the meeting can even read the framework.

One think tank is trying to get the rules released to the public. The Foundation for American Innovation filed a Freedom of Information Act request, which is a legal tool that lets people ask the government to share documents. The group's chief economist, Samuel Hammond, confirmed they sent the request to the White House's Office of Cyber Director.