President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO), titled “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security,” on June 2. The directive seeks to facilitate access to new artificial intelligence (AI) innovations while also safeguarding the U.S. against AI-enabled threats to national security.
One of the main objectives of the EO is for federal agencies to remove certain regulatory hurdles with respect to the development of new AI innovations.
Rather than requiring mandatory federal regulation of the AI industry, the order emphasizes voluntary industry collaboration, with its real-world impact depending heavily on subsequent agency implementation.
The EO also calls for the establishment of an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse to coordinate efforts to scan for and validate software vulnerabilities through voluntary collaboration with the AI industry and operators of critical infrastructure. Participating AI companies will submit their most powerful models for government testing 30 days before public release.
The order seeks to help various entities gain access to cybersecurity tools and services, including community banks, rural hospitals and local utilities.
Several federal agency officials will be charged with developing and maintaining a “classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models and determine the threshold at which an AI model should be designated a ‘covered frontier model’ for the purposes of this order, sharing such assessments with AI developers and researchers as appropriate.”
These determinations will be made by the director of the National Security Agency, in consultation with the directors of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the national cyber director, the assistant to the president for science and technology and other representatives of the Department of War.
The financial services industry was largely receptive to the themes expressed in the directive.
“As AI continues to transform industries across the economy, including financial services, clear leadership from the administration is critical to fostering innovation while strengthening cybersecurity and protecting critical infrastructure,” Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Lindsey Johnson said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the EO’s collaborative approach and its recognition of the important role advanced AI models can play in enhancing security and resilience. We look forward to working with the Treasury Department and other stakeholders on implementation to ensure these technologies are deployed in ways that strengthen the financial system, protect consumers, and support continued American innovation.”
Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey pointed to the EO’s “explicit inclusion of community banks” as “an important demonstration of how the community bank voice is being heard on behalf of the local communities we serve.”
“It reflects the priorities we have advanced in meetings with the administration and in our action plan, particularly our calls for adopting effective AI-driven cybersecurity, modernizing security operations, building an AI-ready workforce, and establishing a voluntary clearinghouse in collaboration with the AI industry and critical infrastructure operators to facilities AI cyber readiness and response,” Romero Rainey said.
ICBA joined with nine other trade organizations in urging “immediate federal action to prepare for a new era of AI-enabled cybersecurity risk.”
“This is not a theoretical future challenge. Highly capable AI systems are accelerating vulnerability discovery, lowering the time and resources required to identify exploitable weaknesses, and increasing pressure on existing labor-intensive patching, incident response, disclosure, and risk management processes,” the trades wrote. “Recent testing by cybersecurity companies confirms that frontier AI models can accomplish in weeks what previously required a full year of manual penetration testing, and adversaries can now weaponize new vulnerabilities within minutes of disclosure. Concerningly, these or similar systems will be available to adversary nations who might target the U.S. Government or private sector.”
Along with the rapidly changing threat environment, the trades also noted the medium- and long-term benefits they expect from emerging AI technology, such as “a more secure and resilient digital ecosystem that can continue to strengthen American businesses and improve the lives of citizens.”
In addition to ICBA, the letter was endorsed by the Alliance for Chemical Distribution, American Fintech Council, Business Software Alliance, Cybersecurity Coalition, Cyber Threat Alliance, Electronic Transactions Association, Healthcare Leadership Council, National Electrical Manufacturers Association and TechNet.