Trump pulls AI executive order hours before signing — 'I didn't like certain aspects' freezes the 90-day framework

President Trump postponed the Thursday signing of his AI executive order, telling reporters 'I didn't like what I was seeing' and that he didn't want to risk the US lead over China. The pulled order would have formalized the voluntary 90-day pre-release government access framework that five US labs already operate under. With the EO frozen, the procurement-exclusion mechanism the Pentagon used against Anthropic remains the de facto regulatory regime.

The reversal is the cleanest evidence yet that the administration is split between two camps. The accelerationist camp (the camp that 'won out' Thursday, per Washington Post reporting) argues any voluntary review framework slows release velocity and cedes ground to China. The Mythos camp — informally led by the national-security and AISI alumni inside the administration — argues unsanctioned frontier deployments produce unmanaged cyber and bio risk. The pulled signing did not resolve the split; it deferred it.

For frontier labs, the structural read changes. The PM news cycle assumed a 90-day window would become the formal default; the AM cycle has to model continued ambiguity. Anthropic's Pentagon exclusion litigation now matters more, not less — without the EO, the procurement-exclusion mechanism becomes the binding precedent for any lab that refuses contract language. See our analysis →.

CNBC — Trump postpones AI executive order → · CBS — Trump postpones AI EO → · Washington Post — White House AI rules postponed →