AP: Staff of the Commerce Department's AI Safety Center Were Asked to Report Informally to the White House; the Center Has No Permanent Leader and Has Stopped Publishing Research

Officials with the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence (CAISSI), an independent division of the Commerce Department, recently were asked to informally report to an office of the White House, according to two former government officials with knowledge of the ongoing conversations, the Associated Press reported. The office was not identified. The division charged with assessing the safety of new AI offerings lacks a permanent leader and has stopped publishing its research.

The center, which until recently was called the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation, is allocated $10 million per year, about one-eighth the annual budget of its counterpart in the United Kingdom. Critics worry that the center’s findings could be altered or muted in deference to the tech industry.