Trump Quietly Killed AI Safeguard After Accepting Millions

President Trump signed an executive order ending Biden-era AI policies, including a rule requiring AI companies to report experiments to federal regulators, nine days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Tools for Humanity donated $5 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC, according to The Lever. The disclosure rule, proposed in September 2024, was formally withdrawn from the federal regulatory agenda in December, more than a year after it was introduced. Subsequent donations included $500,000 each from OpenAI investor Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in February, another $5 million from the pair the next month, $5 million from Elon Musk in June, and $25 million from OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman and his wife in September.

President Trump scuttled a major AI guardrail after a series of tech executives donated to his political operation. The Lever reports https://www.levernews.com/ai-regulation-was-coming-then-trump-killed-it/ that in September 2024, the Biden administration began the process of implementing a rule that required AI companies to report their experiments to regulators at the federal government. At the time, officials said that the rule was aimed at preventing “dangerous accidents” that “could result in injury or even loss of life.” AI investors and companies such as OpenAI balked at the requirement, even as many safety officials resigned or were pushed out over its warning https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/5/17/24158403/openai-resignations-ai-safety-ilya-sutskever-jan-leike-artificial-intelligence about lax safety regulations. Leading AI investors started donating millions to Trump’s reelection campaign, and after he won in November, they opened their wallets even further. Just before Trump’s inauguration, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity company donated $5 million to Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc. Only nine days later, Trump signed an executive order ending Biden’s AI policies, including the reporting rule, although it was still on the federal regulatory agenda. Then more tech donations arrived in Trump’s coffers. In February, Open AI investor Marc Adreesson donated $500,000 to MAGA Inc., and his partner Ben Horowitz matched the donation. The next month, they donated another $5 million, and in June, Elon Musk, who has his own xAi venture, donated $5 million himself. In September, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman and his wife donated a combined $25 million to MAGA Inc. In December, more than a year after the Biden administration proposed the AI disclosure rule, it was formally withdrawn from the federal regulatory agenda. Today, these same AI leaders are claiming they always supported regulating the technology and are demanding lawmakers step in after some high-profile hacking https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-pm-albanese-says-openai-breached-medicare-sydney-morning-herald-2026-09-23/ incidents https://www.anthropic.com/news/investigating-incidents-cybersecurity-evals . It’s a far cry from the millions they spent to ensure the government would leave them alone.