OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is meeting with White House officials and members of Congress on Wednesday following President Donald Trump's signing of a new executive order on artificial intelligence, according to CNBC.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that Altman has a White House meeting scheduled with members of the Trump administration. Representatives for House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, separately confirmed to CNBC that both leaders have meetings with Altman on the calendar. According to Yahoo News, Altman will also meet with Senate leadership and members who oversee committees with jurisdiction over the AI industry.
Trump signed the executive order on Tuesday. It establishes a voluntary framework under which AI developers could provide the federal government access to their most powerful models for up to 30 days before public release. The order also directs the Treasury Department to stand up an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse to help identify and patch software vulnerabilities, and gives multiple agencies 30 days to prioritize cyber defenses across federal and critical infrastructure systems. The order explicitly prohibits any interpretation of its provisions as authorizing mandatory licensing or permitting requirements for AI models.
After the order was signed, Altman took to X $TWTR to express his backing of it. "The U.S. should lead on AI by continuing to develop the very best models, making sure they're safe, and getting cyber tools into the hands of trusted defenders," he wrote. "The new EO gets the balance right."
The Washington trip had been arranged prior to the order's release, and Yahoo News reported that Altman, along with other OpenAI staff, spent several weeks in dialogue with officials as the policy took shape. Four officials drove the policy's development, per Yahoo News: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios.
The order represents the latest development in a months-long deliberation at the White House. Trump pulled a prior version of the order at the last minute in May, telling reporters he did not like certain aspects of it and warning it risked undermining U.S. competitiveness against China. The final order was also shaped in part by the emergence of Anthropic's Mythos model, which drew attention in Washington for its ability to identify vulnerabilities in widely used software.
A blog post OpenAI released earlier this week disclosed that the company has kept its distance from electoral politics, having made no donations to candidates or campaigns and having played no role in funding PACs, CNBC reported. OpenAI added that future policy advocacy would be conducted openly and under the company's own banner.