Inside the White House's AI power center
TL;DR
AI power in the Trump administration is shifting: David Sacks is stepping back from daily involvement, while Sriram Krishnan is expected to leave by the end of June. Instead of one Silicon Valley-led center, a wider and partly competing group is shaping policy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is back in the middle after the Anthropic dispute. His department imposed export controls on Anthropic and is pushing G7-side talks on access to advanced AI models.
Nauti's Take
This looks less like a mature AI governance machine and more like power politics under pressure. Lutnick, Bessent, Wiles, Baasch and Cairncross bring different lenses: trade, financial risk, political control, Capitol Hill strategy and cyber security.
That mix could produce serious policy, but only if someone actually integrates it. Otherwise AI regulation becomes a reaction to the latest fight with a lab.
Briefingshow
When AI policy is shaped through shifting personnel rather than stable process, regulation becomes harder to predict. For labs, cloud providers and foreign governments, the key question is no longer only what the rule says, but which White House or cabinet actor owns the issue this week. The Anthropic fight shows how quickly model safety can turn into export control, finance and national security policy.
Sources