The memo also prevents companies from altering AI models being used by the military without prior approval.
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Less than a week after signing an executive order that attempts to regulate the booming AI industry, President Trump has signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum that aims to put cutting edge AI tools into the hands of the US military. According to the memo signed on Friday, the Trump administration is establishing another framework that would “accelerate AI adoption” across a network of federal defense agencies and “adapt the best commercial and open-source technologies for mission use.”
“The men and women who defend our nation deserve the best, most secure and most reliable AI in the world, and our citizens deserve to know it is handled responsibly with the care and seriousness they expect,” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said on X.
More specifically, the memo said that the US government would do “rapid onboarding of the most advanced AI models from multiple vendors.” Along with the faster adoption, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will have to issue an updated directive on autonomous weapon systems. Lastly, the memo introduces a new restriction to AI models used by the government, where “no entity, commercial or otherwise, can disable, degrade or modify an AI system that American warfighters depend on without prior approval.”
There is one limitation on the memo, though, which detailed that the US’ network of defense agencies can’t create or release an AI model that’s designed to “censor free speech, embed ideological bias or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.” However, the administration is still interested in influencing “frontier models” as Trump’s executive order from earlier this week would grant the US government a 30-day window to review them before a public release.
