The head of US AI safety has stepped down. What now?

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In October 2023, former president Joe Biden signed an executive order that included several measures for regulating AI. On his first day in office, President Trump overturned it, replacing it a few days later with his own order on AI in the US.
This week, some government agencies that enforce AI regulation were told to halt their work, while the director of the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) stepped down. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is apparently preparing for mass firings that would further impact AISI.
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So what does this mean practically for the future of AI regulation? Here’s what you need to know.
What Biden’s order accomplished – and didn’t
In addition to naming several initiatives around protecting civil rights, jobs, and privacy as AI accelerates, Biden’s order focused on responsible development and compliance. However, as ZDNET’s Tiernan Ray wrote at the time, the order could have been more specific, leaving loopholes available in much of the guidance. Though it required companies to report on any safety testing efforts, it didn’t make red-teaming itself a requirement, or clarify any standards for testing. Ray pointed out that because AI as a discipline is very broad, regulating it needs — but is also hampered by — specificity.
A Brookings report noted in November that because federal agencies absorbed many of the directives in Biden’s order, they may protect them from Trump’s repeal. But that protection is looking less and less likely.
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Biden’s order established the US AI Safety Institute (AISI), which is part of NIST. The AISI conducted AI model testing and worked with developers to improve safety measures, among other regulatory initiatives. In August, AISI signed agreements with Anthropic and OpenAI to collaborate on safety testing and research; in November, it established a testing and national security task force.
Earlier this month, likely due to Trump administration shifts, AISI director Elizabeth Kelly announced her departure from the institute via LinkedIn. The fate of both initiatives, and the institute itself, is now unclear.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) also carried out many of the Biden order’s objectives. For example, a June 2023 CFPB study on chatbots in consumer finance noted that they