Source: Trump yanked AI order after David Sacks raised industry concerns Publisher: Politico | Author: Sophia Cai, Cheyenne Haslett, Jacob Wendler Published: May 21, 2026 | Archived: May 22, 2026

But during a conversation with Trump, Sacks told the president that companies were already cooperating, and that having the federal government review models before their public release would slow down innovation and harm the U.S. in its AI race with China, the senior White House official and one of the other people said.

Sacks did not respond to a request for comment.

The Silicon Valley venture capitalist was not the sole obstacle, one of the people said, citing opposition from some other industry leaders.

The proposal had gotten a mixed reception in the tech industry: OpenAI, developer of one of the most advanced AI models, has been supportive of the contours of the order.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s top lobbyist, told reporters last week that the company believed in the importance of collaborating with the government on AI safety. Lehane said the company was focused on “the ability to innovate, but doing it in concert with the government in a way that actually really prioritizes that safe deployment.”

Trump offered few details Thursday about why he delayed the signing of the order. The people familiar with the issue said his staff had not only briefed tech executives on the order but had invited several leading Silicon Valley leaders to the ceremony.

“I didn’t like certain aspects of it,” Trump told reporters Thursday morning. “I think it gets in the way of — we’re leading China. We’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that.”

But the senior White House official and the two people said the rollout unraveled after Sacks raised objections directly with Trump in the days before its planned release, blindsiding some White House staff involved in the process.

According to the White House official, Sacks had participated in a review of the EO this week, and White House officials believed he was generally happy with it and would support it.

But Wednesday night, he began to raise concerns, including fears that the voluntary nature of the agreement may one day become mandatory, the senior White House official said.

“Then, he called POTUS this morning unbeknownst to anybody, his own staff included, and derailed it,” the White House official said.