Trump Moves to Oversee AI Models for US Security; India Once Tried a Similar Law
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
By Pranjal Gupta
New Delhi, June 3: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (June 2) issued an executive order to keep a closer eye on the most advanced, powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models. The directives mandate developers to voluntarily allow access to the US goverment so they could run test to make sure that these super-advanced AI models could not be used to hack into critical government systems, infrastructure, or military operations.
Once in, the government agencies (like the Pentagon and the Department of Commerce) will then havea period of 30 days to test the AI for safety and security flaws before it finally goes public.
“It is the policy of the United States to promote AI innovation and security by working collaboratively with the private sector to modernize government and private sector information systems and harden them against external threats; to protect American ingenuity and intellectual property from exploitation and theft by adversaries; and to cultivate America’s advanced AI-enabled capabilities,” stated the official order undersigned by Donald J Trump.
Tech companies, including Anthropic, have welcomed this balanced approach. “This Executive Order is an important step in strengthening America’s leadership in AI. We look forward to collaborating with the White House to support its implementation,” wrote Anthropic (an AI safety and reserach company that developed AI assistant Claude) on X, formerly Twitter.
How did India try the exact same thing?
Back in March 2024, India’s IT Ministry tried to do something very similar, which received a severe backlash form the concernced industry giants.
Right before the 2024 general elections, the Indian government issued an advisory saying that tech companies had to get explicit government permission before launching any AI tool that was still "under-testing" or potentially "unreliable."
The tech industry was furious. Founders of major AI companies called the move "anti-innovation" and a "bad move." India's massive tech lobby group, Nasscom (which represents giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft), formally protested to the government. They demanded that the government drop the permission requirement and stop asking for compliance reports.
A fortnight after announcing the rules, the Indian government completely backed down and cancelled the requirement due to the intense criticism.
