Lutnick Takes Over White House AI Policy
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick imposed export controls on Anthropic last week, creating a licensing regime that could impact other AI labs, and his letter sparked the confrontation that led to the takedown of Anthropic's Fable and Mythos models.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was the point of contact when Amazon raised concerns about Anthropic safety issues and is now viewed as 'the more reasonable actor' compared to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is 'public about his disdain for the company.'
- National Economic Council's Ryan Baasch is carrying the torch for departing AI advisers David Sacks and Sriram Krishnan, working alongside them to push federal preemption of state AI laws on Capitol Hill.
- White House chief of staff Susie Wiles reopened lines of communication with Anthropic after Bessent raised concerns about how the Mythos model could impact the financial sector, sources said.
- National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross has clashed with Bessent over the AI response, with Cairncross believing Treasury has become too involved while Bessent allies say Cairncross 'has not met the moment with the necessary urgency.'
- Cairncross' head of policy Thomas Lind plans to leave, further 'depleting the Trump administration of technical expertise,' as Sacks has already moved to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and Krishnan departs by the end of this month.
Why it matters: Lutnick, once described as on the outs for going off message, now leads AI policy and is brokering G7 talks on expanding access to advanced U.S. AI models — exporting a regulatory framework shaped by last week's Anthropic confrontation. The Cairncross-Bessent clash and two more senior departures (Lind, Krishnan) leave the team thinner on technical expertise precisely as the administration builds a regulatory regime with global reach.
