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The United States government will now be testing new artificial intelligence (AI) tools before they are released to the public.
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Tech firms Google, Microsoft and xAI have agreed to have the US Department of Commerce examine their models through the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI).
The evaluations will cover “testing, collaborative research and best practice development related to commercial AI systems,” the statement reads.
CAISI will also be evaluating “demonstrable risks” associated with AI systems, such as cybersecurity, biosecurity and chemical weapons risks, its website reads.
“Independent, rigorous measurement science is essential to understanding frontier AI and its national security implications,” said CAISI Director Chris Fall in a statement. “These expanded industry collaborations help us scale our work in the public interest at a critical moment.
Microsoft said in a public statement that the CAISI evaluations will help them stay ahead of risks, such as AI cyber attacks, for their AI model, Copilot.
Shift in emphasis for Trump
The announcement that AI companies will be evaluated is a departure for President Trump, who has long argued that excessive regulation of AI systems could hurt the country’s innovation and could allow China to gain an advantage.
In March, Trump released his AI National Policy Framework, which says that the United States will “remove barriers to innovation” and “accelerate” the deployment of AI across various sectors.
It also said that Congress will not create “any few federal rulemaking bodies to regulate AI,” but instead get existing regulatory bodies and experts in specific domains to examine the models.
CAISI has already conducted 40 evaluations of other models, including on some “state-of-the-art models that remain unreleased,” but did not specify which models it is referring to.
“Renegotiation” of existing agreements
OpenAI and Anthropic signed agreements for these evaluations in 2024 under former President Joe Biden. CAISI said existing agreements had been “renegotiated,” but did not elaborate on what had changed.
Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer at OpenAI, said on LinkedIn that the company provided the government with ChatGPT5.5 ahead of its public release this week to “support national security testing and evaluations.”
Lehane said OpenAI is working with CAISI on testing models such as GPT-5.5-Cyber, a specific model that will strengthen cyber defence capabilities and which is only available for a limited group of first users.
OpenAI said it is also involved in developing a “responsible deployment strategy” for the cybersecurity model, including a playbook to distribute these models throughout the public service.
