Trump Admin Changes Plan to Tap Former Anthropic Researcher to Direct Federal AI Safety Org

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Commerce Department tapped a new director for the government’s safety-centered artificial intelligence organization, but later decided to go in another direction, sources familiar with the matter tell The Daily Signal. 

Collin Burns, a former researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, was tapped to lead the Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation, but Commerce later selected a different person to lead the organization—Dr. Chris Fall.

A Commerce official thanked Burns for his willingness to serve, but said the department decided to move in a different direction. Fall served in the first Trump administration at the Department of Energy as the director of the Office of Science.

“Dr. Chris Fall has been selected to serve as the next Director of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). Dr. Fall brings the scientific leadership needed to ensure America leads the world in evaluating frontier AI models and advancing the technical standards that protect our national and economic security,” a Commerce spokesman told The Daily Signal.

Burns is the co-author of a paper titled “Aligning AI With Shared Human Values,” which argues that AI systems need to understand human moral judgments. 

Burns’ hiring would have been significant because he most recently worked at Anthropic, an AI company currently at odds with the Trump administration. 

Anthropic declined the Pentagon’s request for unrestricted use of its artificial technology. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared Anthropic a “supply chain risk to national security.”

However, Axios reported that the National Security Agency is using Anthropic’s powerful new model, Mythos Preview. Anthropic has only allowed Mythos access to about 40 organizations due to its potentially dangerous cyber hacking capabilities.  

The Commerce Department created the then-AI Safety Institute in November 2023 at the direction of President Joe Biden. Last June, the Trump administration renamed the agency to the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, marking the administration’s embrace of AI development. 

“For far too long, censorship and regulations have been used under the guise of national security. Innovators will no longer be limited by these standards,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the time of the name change. “CAISI will evaluate and enhance U.S. innovation of these rapidly developing commercial AI systems while ensuring they remain secure to our national security standards.”

The story previously said that Burns would leave CAISI.