‘It’s a hurricane warning’: Guardrails around powerful AI models may be too late; Politico, June 7, 2026

DANA NICKEL and  MAGGIE MILLER, Politico; ‘It’s a hurricane warning’: Guardrails around powerful AI models may be too late

The U.S. has at most six to 12 months before Beijing can compete with this new wave of hyper-advanced AI models.

"The U.S. is scrambling to strengthen guardrails around increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models before China can catch up.

It may already be running out of time.

New AI models, such as Anthropic’s Claude Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5-Cyber, have advanced faster than legislation regulating the technology can keep pace. They have both shown a remarkable ability to identify software vulnerabilities and launch cyberattacks — skills that hackers and cyber adversaries are hungry to exploit.

Recent estimates suggest that the U.S. has at most six to 12 months before Beijing gains access to a frontier model with prowess comparable to Mythos or GPT 5.5-Cyber or develops an AI competitor that could eventually be wielded as a cyber weapon...

This race to develop defensive tools against a potential barrage of AI-powered cyberattacks has been accelerated by accusations that China is stealing U.S. technologies to create copycat versions of advanced AI models via distillation attacks, by which attackers use a “teacher” model’s outputs to train their own “student” models...

As this watershed moment for AI fast approaches, the U.S. government is weighing how to support the continued development of American-made technology while balancing the need for greater guardrails.

The Trump administration has largely taken a hands-off approach to regulating the release of frontier models to avoid stifling innovation and to stay competitive with China. It was finally motivated to act after Anthropic warned that the rate of AI progress threatened to upend global economies, public safety and national security if not deployed safely.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this week that encourages AI companies to submit their powerful new models for voluntary government review at least 30 days before releasing them to the public."

Behind the White House’s Potential Rethink on A.I.; The New York Times, May 5, 2026

 Andrew Ross Sorkin, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Niko Gallogly,Brian O’Keefe, Lauren Hirsch and Vivienne Walt, The New York Times ; Behind the White House’s Potential Rethink on A.I.

Artificial intelligence has become a national security concern. That has federal officials rethinking how lightly it should regulate the technology.

"Andrew here. Should there be the equivalent of the F.D.A. for artificial intelligence models? Should there be a government approval process before new models are released?

Those are some of the big questions as the White House weighs an executive order that could increase oversight of new A.I. tools. Will it need congressional approval? How much will the industry push back? More below.

The debate over new A.I. guardrails

For most of his second term, President Trump has embraced a laissez-faire approach to artificial intelligence. Let Silicon Valley do its thing, his administration reasoned, and it would maintain its lead over China and other rivals.

But a report by The Times about the White House potentially taking a heavier hand in overseeing A.I., including reviewing new models before they’re released, underscores how even the Trump administration has to reckon with how powerful these tools are becoming."

White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released; The New York Times, May 4, 2026

 Tripp Mickle, Julian E. Barnes, Sheera Frenkel and Dustin Volz, The New York Times; White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released

"President Trump, who promoted a hands-off approach to artificial intelligence and gave Silicon Valley free rein to roll out the technology, is considering the introduction of government oversight over new A.I. models, according to U.S. officials and people briefed on the deliberations.

The administration is discussing an executive order to create an A.I. working group that would bring together tech executives and government officials to examine potential oversight procedures, according to U.S. officials, who declined to be identified in order to discuss deliberations over sensitive policies. Among the potential plans is a formal government review process for new A.I. models.

In meetings last week, White House officials told executives from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI about some of those plans, people briefed on the conversations said. 

The working group is likely to consider a number of oversight approaches, officials said. But a review process could be similar to one being developed in Britain, which has assigned several government bodies to ensure that A.I. models meet certain safety standards, people in the tech industry and the administration said."

Meta debuts new AI model, attempting to catch Google, OpenAI after spending billions; CNBC, April 8, 2026

 Jonathan Vanian, CNBC; Meta debuts new AI model, attempting to catch Google, OpenAI after spending billions

"Meta is debuting its first major artificial intelligence model since the costly hiring of Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang nine months ago, as the Facebook parent aims to carve out a niche in a market that’s being dominated by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

Dubbed Muse Spark and originally codenamed Avocado, the AI model announced Wednesday is the first from the company’s new Muse series developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, the AI unit that Wang oversees. Wang joined Meta in June as part of the company’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, where he was CEO."

The god illusion: why the pope is so popular as a deepfake image; The Guardian, December 21, 2024

Dan Milmo , The Guardian; The god illusion: why the pope is so popular as a deepfake image

"The pope is an obvious target for deepfakes, according to experts, because there is such a vast digital “footprint” of videos, images and voice recordings related to Francis. AI models are trained on the open internet, which is stuffed with content featuring famous public figures, from politicians to celebrities and religious leaders.

“The pope is so frequently featured in the public eye and there are large volumes of photos, videos, and audio clips of him on the open web,” said Sam Stockwell, a research associate at the UK’s Alan Turing Institute.

“Since AI models are often trained indiscriminately on such data, it becomes a lot easier for these models to replicate the facial features and likeness of individuals like the pope compared with those who don’t have such a large digital footprint.”"

A.I. May Not Get a Chance to Kill Us if This Kills It First; Slate, October 17, 2023

 SCOTT NOVER, Slate; A.I. May Not Get a Chance to Kill Us if This Kills It First

"There is a disaster scenario for OpenAI and other companies funneling billions into A.I. models: If a court found that a company was liable for copyright infringement, it could completely halt the development of the offending model."