Staff at US AI safety center asked to report informally to White House, AP reports

As of 10:25 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

Officials at the small U.S. government center that assesses the safety of advanced artificial intelligence were recently asked to report informally to an office of the White House, The Associated Press reported, citing two former government officials.

The center, the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence, or CAISSI, is a division of the Commerce Department. It has no permanent leader and has stopped publishing its research, the AP reported Sunday, Nov. 8. The two former officials have knowledge of the ongoing conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid repercussions for current staff, according to the AP. The AP did not name the White House office involved.

The AP report did not include comment from the Commerce Department, and the AP said the White House did not respond to specific questions about CAISSI.

Why it matters

The center is the federal government's main point of contact with AI companies for testing their models. Some critics worry that moving it closer to the White House could politicize decisions affecting areas from cybersecurity to bioweapons, and that its findings could be altered or muted in deference to the tech industry, the AP reported.

"These are really powerful institutions that can drastically improve our lives, or the alternative," Caroline Siegel Singh, an AI and emerging technology program manager at the Federation of American Scientists, told the AP. She said the hope is for "nonpartisan or bipartisan technocratic experts to enact policy in a way that best serves the American public."

Others argue that bringing the center into the president's orbit could give it more prominence and perhaps more funding, according to the AP.

Leadership churn and a research pause

The center is allocated $10 million a year, about one-eighth of the annual budget of its United Kingdom counterpart, the AP reported. Its director was hired and fired within days in April, and his replacement resigned after a few months, the AP said. Since then, the head of its parent institute has served as acting director.

In August, Congress began asking why the center had stopped releasing its reports on how safely certain AI systems performed, according to the AP. OpenAI had also urged policymakers to give the division more money and support, the AP reported.

In a statement to the AP, the White House said President Donald Trump had formally set up what it calls his Super Intelligence Force and had commissioned a report on risks from his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. It said the administration would ensure "continued U.S. leadership on SI for the benefit of the American people."

Amos Toh, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, told the AP that the administration is framing model-safety decisions as a national security matter needing executive discretion and secrecy. "At the end of the day, all of these decisions are of immense public consequence and should be explained and rationalized in the public eye," he said. "And that's not happening."