U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity as soon as Thursday (May 21, 2026), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as pressure grows from parts of his political base to increase oversight of new AI models, such as Anthropic’s Mythos.
The White House was working to get AI company CEOs to a signing ceremony with President Donald Trump, another source familiar with the planning said.
“The order would create a voluntary framework for AI developers to engage with the U.S. government about the public release of covered models,” the sources said. “Under the framework, the developers would be asked to provide their models to the government 90 days before public release, and also give pre-public access to critical infrastructure providers such as banks,” one of the people said.
Such an approach may represent a middle ground among supporters of Mr. Trump. Make America Great Again (MAGA) activists, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and right-wing political organiser Amy Kremer, have been pressing the White House to require AI developers to submit their most capable models for government security tests. On the other side of the debate are tech industry supporters such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and former Trump adviser David Sacks, who are resistant to mandatory requirements. Mr. Sacks in March stepped down from his role as Mr. Trump’s lead AI official and is now co-chairing the President’s tech advisory committee. Mr. Trump’s AI policies in his second term have largely reflected the tech industry’s perspective.
New models driving debate
A White House spokesperson called any discussion about AI policy details “speculation.” A National Security Agency spokesperson directed Reuters to contact the White House when asked about details of the President’s plan. National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, who serves as Mr. Trump’s principal adviser on cybersecurity policy and strategy, did not respond to requests for comment.
“The order was the result of work by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Science & Technology Adviser Michael Kratsios, Mr. Wiles’ deputy Walker Barrett, and Mr. Cairncross over the last month, with input from AI companies,” the source familiar with the planning said. The balance of power between the two groups of Mr. Trump’s supporters has shifted, driven by the release of powerful new AI systems, including Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber. The companies warn the new models could supercharge complex cyberattacks, though some cybersecurity executives have said those fears are overblown.
Mythos’ arrival prompted a battle among the President’s supporters to influence how he responds. The outcome of that debate could have a significant impact on the AI industry if the President’s decision slows the rollout of large language models or prompts the companies to change how a model performs to address safety concerns. Either option could hurt profits.
Republicans have traditionally favoured limited government and opposed regulations, but support is growing among their more vocal populist supporters to impose AI guardrails. The populist faction is asking Mr. Trump to require government approval of “potentially dangerous” AI systems before they’re deployed, according to a letter they sent to the White House last Friday (May 15, 2026) .
Ms. Kremer said it is “antithetical” to her political views to advocate for new regulations, but AI requires a different approach.
“You can’t count on these people that are leading these AI companies to put our interests at heart and do what’s right to protect the American people,” she said. Ms. Kremer helped organise a January 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol riot. She said in an interview that she was not among the thousands of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol that day.
Big tech support
Tech executives are among the President’s largest political donors and most visible supporters. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and OpenAI’s Sam Altman sat front and centre as he was sworn into office in January 2025.
Advocates for the tech industry told Reuters they want to see the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation play a leading role in the Trump administration’s response to advanced AI models, adding that companies are willing to work with the scientists and cybersecurity specialists in that organisation voluntarily.
The National Security Agency has been involved in administration-wide discussions about how to respond to Mythos, according to two other people familiar with the matter, along with Mr. Cairncross. Lawmakers asked Mr. Cairncross to work with federal agencies to set up a process that would monitor “sudden frontier AI capability jumps.”
“The past couple months have served as a massive wake-up call for the kinds of vulnerabilities that AI can create,” said former U.S. Representative Brad Carson, who now helps run a super Political Action Committee (PAC) network whose funders include Anthropic.
“Holding back new AI models while the Federal government vets them may allow the U.S. to gain a short-term advantage over adversaries but will not keep the technology out of enemy hands in the long term,” said Neil Chilson, head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute, a non-profit often aligned with the tech industry.
“We need to make sure we’re deploying it and getting the most out of it, including by hardening our defenses,” Mr. Chilson said. Voluntary federal testing of new AI models has been in place for a few years, with companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic submitting their products for scrutiny by the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, known by a different name under former President Joe Biden. The Commerce Department announced in May that Google, XAI and Microsoft had agreed to submit their AI models for security testing, though the details later disappeared from its website. The White House and Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment about why the details disappeared.
Published – May 21, 2026 12:20 pm IST
