US Government Refuses to Release AI Model Safety Testing Framework and 'Trusted Partner' List
The White House has withheld details of its voluntary safety testing rules for frontier AI models and the list of companies granted early access, citing national security.
According to a report by German tech outlet heise online, the US government has refused to fully disclose the rules governing its voluntary safety testing of high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) models. This decision follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the civil rights organization Protect Democracy. While the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) at the White House submitted some documents in response, key materials—including the full draft of the testing framework, accompanying documents, and the complete list of "Trusted Partners"—remain classified due to national security interests and protection of confidential business information.
The dispute stems from Executive Order 14409, signed by President Donald Trump in June 2026. The order established a voluntary mechanism allowing developers like Anthropic and OpenAI to grant the government access to their frontier models up to 30 days before planned release. Although the executive order explicitly states that this does not create a mandatory licensing or pre-approval requirement, the specific criteria for implementation have not been made public.
Citing documents obtained through the lawsuit, The Information reported that the actual framework likely consists of a seven-page document whose full content remains unpublished. The released materials primarily consist of emails from the ONCD and the Department of Commerce to AI labs, revealing which organizations were designated as "Trusted Partners" with early access, but leaving the selection standards and the full partner list undisclosed.