Report: White House Tells AI Labs to Test in US Before UK

Should AI be governed solely by the nations that build it or does sovereignty mean using the world's best safety institute?
Report: White House Tells AI Labs to Test in US Before UK
Above: Sam Altman, accompanied by Donald Trump, speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 21, 2025. Image credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The Spin


Pro-Trump narrative

AI should be governed by the nations that build it, not by foreign institutes or globalist bodies angling for a say in American innovation. Sovereign capability means domestic testing, domestic rules and domestic accountability, with anything less handing outsiders leverage over critical infrastructure. Permissionless innovation built the greatest tech ecosystem on earth, and America will not change its ways for vested interests.

Pro-U.K. narrative

Walking away from the world's strongest government evaluation body is self-sabotage, ripping up a testing framework that has already caught real vulnerabilities in nearly every major system release. U.S. AI sovereignty is not undermined by trusted allies helping ensure AI systems are safe for all. For the sake of the world, middle powers like the U.K. must continue to leverage frontier evaluation capabilities to maintain a multi-directional global order.


Metaculus Prediction

There is an 81.5% chance that any frontier AI company will be nationalized before Jan. 1, 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.


The Controversies



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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 7.4.1

© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 7.4.1