The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) is the new name the Trump administration’s Department of Commerce has bestowed on the Biden-era’s AI Safety Institute. The change aims to “ensure Commerce uses its vast scientific and industrial expertise to evaluate and understand the capabilities of these rapidly developing systems and identify vulnerabilities and threats within systems developed in the U.S. and abroad,” the Department announced. As part of the update, CAISI becomes the industry’s primary federal government point of contact for testing and collaborative research related to commercial AI systems.

“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,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in an announcement.

The move follows the Department of Commerce’s May rescission of AI chip export restrictions implemented under the Biden administration on order from President Trump.

The rebranding to CAISI “is part of a larger Trump administration effort to accelerate the expansion of American AI companies,” writes The Verge, noting that “on his first day in office Trump rescinded a Biden executive order that ordered new safety standards for large AI systems and a report evaluating the potential risks for U.S. consumers and the labor market.”

Under its new mandate, CAISI will:

• Work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) organizations to develop security guidelines and best practices and assist in developing voluntary standards.
• Identify AI capabilities that may pose risks to national security in areas such as cybersecurity, biosecurity and chemical weapons.
• Assess the state of international AI competition and evaluate adoption of foreign AI systems.
• Coordinate with other federal agencies and entities, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Intelligence Community, to develop evaluation methods and conduct evaluations.
• Represent U.S. interests internationally to guard against burdensome and unnecessary regulation of American technologies by foreign governments.
• Collaborate with the NIST Information Technology Laboratory to ensure U.S. dominance of international AI standards.

“You want a place to go,” Deadline quotes Lutnick saying at the inaugural AI Honors awards ceremony May 27. “Has someone checked out this model? Is this a safe model? … And we’re not going to regulate it. We are going to enhance the voluntary models of what great American innovation is all about,” Lutnick added.

The White House has emphasized AI deregulation, going so far as to ensure state-level AI regulation is prohibited for 10 years in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that passed the House and is now under evaluation in the Senate. The provision is controversial, according to The Hill.