• President Donald Trump signed a watered-down AI executive order.
• Under the order, tech companies could voluntarily submit AI models for review 30 days in advance.
• It comes after Anthropic's Claude Mythos spooked many with its cybersecurity capabilities.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday privately signed a scaled-back executive order that would give AI and tech companies a brief window to let the federal government voluntarily review AI models.

The order comes after the federal government has had repeated conversations with leading AI companies, including Anthropic, about cybersecurity. The startup said in April that it was limiting the release of Claude Mythos due to concerns that the AI model was too adept at finding software and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Anthropic, which has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, said last week that it would soon release Mythos-level models to its customers.

Under the scaled-back executive order, frontier AI model makers and tech companies would be able to voluntarily provide the federal government with access to AI models with advanced cyber capabilities up to 30 days before a public release. A previous version of the executive order, published by Politico, called for a review period of up to 90 days.

The new executive order stresses that none of the reviews are mandatory.

Trump previously told reporters that he had delayed signing the order over concerns that it could endanger US companies' lead over China in the AI race.

"We're leading China. We're leading everybody," Trump told reporters on May 21. "And I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead."