The Trump administration on Oct. 10 sent “reduction in force” layoff notices to at least 4,100 federal employees at eight agencies, including 315 at the Commerce Department -- which has a central role in artificial intelligence policy -- 176 at the Department of Homeland Security, and 1,446 at the Treasury Department, according to a Justice Department court filing.
October 20, 2025
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White House AI advisor Sriram Krishnan, a deputy to David Sacks, has weighed in on a social media debate involving Anthropic, arguing that the Trump administration has saved the U.S. from “safety” controls pursued by the “effective altruist,” or EA, community and its developer allies that would’ve hobbled the nation in the global AI race.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Artificial Intelligence Standards and Innovation should be part of an officially established channel for whistleblowers to report their concerns about AI development from within the industry, suggested a key figure from an AI “safety” community in the crosshairs of White House AI advisor David Sacks.
The Consumer Technology Association says its artificial intelligence standards for health care and other sectors provide a flexible and effective alternative to top-down regulation and that industry-crafted standards should be the foundation for government AI policies.
California’s enactment of new transparency requirements for artificial intelligence frontier models should compel Congress to act quickly on a federal standard before copycat laws advance across the states and create a patchwork of rules, according to the Software & Information Industry Association.
The enactment of a new “transparency” law in California makes advancing the bipartisan AI Whistleblower Protection Act through Congress more important than ever, according to advocates for policies that would prohibit AI companies from retaliating against employees who report concerns about their development of the technology.
Anthropic has unveiled options for addressing three artificial intelligence workforce-impact scenarios, though release of the policy paper was overshadowed by an exchange on social media between cofounder Jack Clark and White House AI and crypto advisor David Sacks, a fellow Silicon Valley veteran and an architect of the Trump administration’s hands-off AI regulatory strategy.
Senators highlighted artificial intelligence elements in their version of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, notably including new restrictions on AI investments in China contained in an amendment by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and a bipartisan group of a dozen other senators.
The Senate has cleared its version of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, including AI investment restrictions and a new control on sales of AI chips to China, setting up negotiations with the House on a final version of the annual defense policy bill.
Researchers at Microsoft are using a well-known cybersecurity concept to propose a non-governmental framework for strengthening the ability of biosynthesis companies to screen their orders in the age of artificial intelligence.
An upcoming deadline for establishing an “American AI Exports Program” under an artificial intelligence executive order could fall victim to the federal government shutdown, while initiatives spelled out in President Trump’s AI action plan and in other EOs have lengthier or no specific deadlines.
Senate labor committee ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has issued a report detailing potentially devastating workforce impacts from artificial intelligence and recommending AI-focused responses such as a “robot tax,” as well as stressing the need for broader economic and corporate governance reforms amid upheavals triggered by the technology.
A report from Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) warns that artificial intelligence safety initiatives at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Science Foundation were part of a censorship “apparatus” established under the Biden administration, and says free-speech protections should be enacted before setting rules around AI safety.
The R Street Institute, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and Chamber of Progress are among the groups on a recent letter to Senate Commerce leaders urging them to hit pause on the “CHAT Act” by Sen. John Husted (R-OH), saying the measure to protect children from risks associated with chatbots is well-intentioned but fundamentally flawed.
White House AI and crypto advisor David Sacks is making a pitch for conservatives to support a moratorium on state artificial intelligence rules, saying the “frenzy” of regulation could doom AI startups and aid China, and that a single federal standard is necessary.
White House AI and crypto advisor David Sacks is adding Google DeepMind’s new “cyber-defense” tool to his running list of reasons why regulatory controls are unnecessary to address artificial intelligence policy issues such as cybersecurity risks.
The Information Technology Industry Council is warning the government shutdown could undermine a landmark federal modernization program that includes aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence, adding its voice to a chorus of federal partners citing potential consequences in the tech space.
The Center for Democracy and Technology says a White House-driven inquiry to find federal rules that inhibit artificial intelligence development could undermine the protections in current law often cited by industry as the reason new AI regulation is unnecessary.
Industry and business groups are ramping up a campaign to convince California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to veto a labor-backed bill to bar employers from relying on automated decision-making systems to make a variety of employment and operational decisions without human oversight.
The erection of walled gardens and consolidation of internet apparatus are not helping to address the serious challenge artificial intelligence “agents” present for privacy and security on the open web, according to advocates for competition and re-envisioning the course of the technology.
OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman continues to argue for some form of regulation on the most advanced artificial intelligence frontier models, while warning that more extensive “European-style” rules for AI will only serve to advantage competitors in China.
A new report from the Center for Democracy and Technology highlights deep divisions among parents, teachers and students over the growing use of artificial intelligence in K-12 schools, and is prompting calls for the Trump administration to encourage responsible deployment of the technology.
The European Commission is committed to spending about €1 billion to increase the uptake of artificial intelligence as part of a twin set of plans to propel the bloc to the front of the line in the global competition to guide establishment of the technology.
The professional services organization KPMG finds artificial intelligence is a bright spot in an annual survey of corporate CEOs that pegs confidence in the global economy at its lowest level since 2020.
The European Commission is requesting feedback on guidance it has issued for implementing provisions of the bloc’s AI Act related to the timely submission of incident reports and investigations.
Trump administration-brokered artificial intelligence agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia provide a model for advancing the U.S. technology stack around the world, but the deals must be accompanied by governance structures based on U.S. values, Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology said in a new report.
The Democracy Forward Foundation has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in an attempt to compel four federal agencies to share details on how the Trump administration is using artificial intelligence to expedite its deregulation campaign.
A Delaware judge erred in his assessment of copyright law’s fair-use factors, according to amicus briefs filed by tech industry associations and digital rights advocates that have both come to the defense of Ross Intelligence in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) have introduced legislation -- the Aligning Incentives for Leadership, Excellence, and Advancement in Development Act -- that would make it easier to win product liability claims against developers and deployers of artificial intelligence systems.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has given preliminary approval to what litigants agreed was the largest-ever class action settlement in a copyright case, ending the first of several high-profile lawsuits pending against major artificial intelligence developers on the issue.
A new artificial intelligence “transparency” law enacted in California contains positive elements but the value is undermined by implementing such regulatory requirements at the state rather than federal level, the tech-backed Center for Data Innovation says.
Proponents of a Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity standard that is being quickly adopted in an attempt to mitigate harm from deepfakes -- despite significant concerns about privacy and its general effectiveness -- kicked off an AI “festival” hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project.
The Trump administration is citing a report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in asserting U.S. artificial intelligence dominance over China, but the presidentially ordered evaluation of DeepSeek by NIST’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation comes with some major disclaimers.
As policymakers look to benchmarks as a way to regulate artificial intelligence systems, they should demand evidence to support claims based on such evaluations, researchers from Stanford University’s institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence said, offering a logical framework for assistance.