White House asks OpenAI and Anthropic to hold new models from UK
The request comes as the administration has recently denied planning other trade restrictions only to move ahead with them within days, Politico reports.
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The White House has asked OpenAI and Anthropic to withhold their newest models from the UK, Politico reports. Neither company's response has been reported.
The request fits a pattern. The White House prepared a plan for a 90-day ban on diesel exports a day after denying any such restriction was under consideration, and it was separately reported to be weighing a diesel export ban as prices climbed, again a day after a denial that any restriction was being considered.
The move also lands awkwardly against the current state of US-UK ties. The EU's Brexit chief has said the UK could get a Canada-style membership deal, a sign of a looser UK-EU relationship rather than full reintegration, at a time when Washington has been emphasizing restored transatlantic cooperation and Britain's standing as its closest ally.
Asking two companies to hold products back from one country is a narrow step, not a ban, and it leaves the commercial and operational picture for OpenAI and Anthropic largely unchanged. But set against the administration's own recent denials of restrictions it went on to pursue, and against its messaging on the US-UK relationship, the request reads as a regulatory nudge that sits uneasily with the White House's own line.