A draft executive order to create a FINRA-style self-regulatory organization for frontier AI has stalled in the White House after failing to win support from senior officials or the president.
The proposed body would have overseen pre-release testing of frontier AI models before U.S. market release, and the central dispute was whether it could block a model launch, shifting that authority outside the labs. The idea drew on a Demis Hassabis proposal for a FINRA-modeled standards body, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately backing a similar concept. With the draft losing momentum, the voluntary testing framework established after a June agreement remains Washington's operative AI oversight mechanism, though its implementation is described as opaque to much of the industry.