US AI safety center staff asked to informally report to the White House, AP reports

Officials with the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence (CAISSI), the small Commerce Department division charged with assessing the safety of AI models, were recently asked to informally report to an office of the White House, the Associated Press reported, citing two former government officials with knowledge of the conversations.

Some critics worry the executive branch could politicize decisions that affect everything from cybersecurity to bioweapons, and that the center's findings could be altered or muted in deference to the tech industry. Others argue that bringing AI safety officials closer to President Donald Trump could give the division more prominence and possibly more funding.

The center, until recently called the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation, has a budget of $10 million a year, about one-eighth of its UK counterpart's. Its director was hired and fired within days in April, his replacement resigned after a few months, and it has had no permanent leader since. In August, Congress began asking why the center had stopped publishing its reports on how safely certain AI systems were performing.

The White House did not answer specific questions about CAISSI, but said Trump had formally established his new "Super Intelligence Force" and commissioned a report on risks from his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.