WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is taking steps to assert control over the rollout of future artificial intelligence model releases by dictating which companies and entities are allowed access to the latest frontier models. The administration asked OpenAI to gate its recent GPT-5.6 release and launched a program this week dubbed “Gold Eagle” aimed at overseeing model access during national security concerns.

The Trump administration blocked Claude Mythos 5 and Fable 5 last month due to “national security concerns.” Access to those models was later reinstated after weeks of negotiations with Anthropic. Previously, Anthropic and OpenAI decided which companies and agencies had access to their most powerful models. Anthropic unveiled its Mythos cybersecurity model to a handful of partners through Project Glasswing, while OpenAI has a consortium called Daybreak for its cybersecurity model. OpenAI stated last month that it would limit new AI models to “trusted partners” to comply with government requests.

A White House official stated that the administration does not provide approvals for AI releases from private companies. The official added that any engagements, testing, or meetings with government experts are “voluntary” and that “decisions on timing and scope of releases rest entirely with the companies.” A White House official said the administration continues to collaborate with all of America's frontier labs to strengthen the security of this technology without stifling innovation.

The Trump administration launched a program dubbed “Gold Eagle” this week aimed at collaborating with the private sector to find and fix cyber vulnerabilities. A person familiar with the matter stated that the “Gold Eagle” clearinghouse would put the White House in charge of greenlighting which companies can access new AI models. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in June asking companies to voluntarily give the government early access to models for testing.

Chinese startup Moonshot AI unveiled its Kimi K3 model on Friday. The Kimi K3 model largely caught up to the performance of Fable and GPT-5.6 and outperformed U.S. frontier models in at least one independent benchmark. David Sacks, founder of Craft Ventures and former White House AI czar, called the Kimi breakthrough “concerning.” Sacks said this is how you lose the AI race and added that the rest of the world won't play by our rules if we bog ourselves down.

The shift from company-controlled access to government oversight represents a structural change in how frontier AI models are distributed. The “Gold Eagle” clearinghouse would centralize distribution decisions within the White House, a move supporters argue is necessary for national security while critics warn it could slow U.S. competitiveness against foreign AI development.