Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Republicans were once game to make safety a key part of conversations on AI, but President Trump's administration has signaled that era is shifting rapidly.
Why it matters: Innovation, national security and competition are the driving forces for how the White House thinks about AI policy.
Driving the news: As Axios first reported, the Trump administration is targeting the U.S. AI Safety Institute as part of its mass firings of probationary employees.
- The move follows Vice President Vance's statements at the AI Action Summit in Paris last week that the future of AI is not going to be "won by hand-wringing about safety."
- AISI employees had notably not been invited to the summit. And, following the summit, the U.K. announced it would change its institute's name to remove safety.
The big picture: DOGE has been targeting probationary employees across the entire federal government. Most people at AISI are probationary given that it's a new initiative.
- Whether they are specifically being targeted for their work's focus or simply because they'd be the easiest to fire is yet to be seen.
- But Vance's comments about moving away from AI safety signaled to observers that AISI's focus was about to change, even with full staffing.
What we're watching: On the Hill, some lawmakers have previously backed bipartisan legislation to change the name of AISI, but this shakeup could change their plans.
- Rep. Jay Obernolte said earlier this month that he'll reintroduce legislation to rename the AI Safety Institute to the Center for AI Advancement and Reliability this Congress. His office declined to comment.
- The offices of Sens. Todd Young, Martin Heinrich, Mike Rounds and Chuck Schumer, who led the bipartisan effort to make AI policy recommendations in the Senate last Congress, all declined to comment.
The NIST cuts, if they go through, are also expected to impact more than half of the people working for CHIPS for America, an effort to bring semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S.
- "Gutting the CHIPS & Science Act, which I helped write and pass, will cut off the investments we're making in American companies to make the microchips that power your car and smartphones, shipping jobs and know how overseas," Rep. Haley Stevens on Wednesday wrote in an X post.
What they're saying: One former senior Commerce staffer who worked closely with both AISI and the CHIPS office told Axios that being "allergic" to the word safety in regard to AI may not have short-term impact, but decreased visibility into the world's most powerful AI models will be dangerous in the future.
- "It's just a real 'cut off your nose to spite your face' kind of thing for the administration trying to maintain national dominance and, honestly, for [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick having a seat at the table on these huge issues," the former staffer said.
- "The loss of so many talented technical employees will gravely undermine our ability to ensure America leads in AI," said Americans for Responsible Innovation president Brad Carson.
Jim Secreto, former deputy chief of staff to former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, told Axios that cuts to CHIPS or AI safety staff "would be a mistake."
- "Even if President Trump and Secretary Lutnick want a change in policy, they'd be best served by retaining and adding to the top-notch technical and nonpartisan staff who can help execute on the mission," he said.
What's next: The administration is moving fast and in a haphazard way. In other agencies, staff has been let go, then brought back.
- We're watching where the Commerce Department lands on what to do with the hundreds of staffers at NIST.
