A prominent AI researcher, formerly an OpenAI and Anthropic executive, has reportedly been “pushed out” of his position at a key federal AI regulation agency just days into his new job.
Collin Burns started work earlier this week, leading the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, but was pushed out by Thursday by the White House, according to sources who spoke to The Washington Post. Officials were reportedly concerned about Burns’s links with his former employer Anthropic, which has had a high-profile spat with the Trump administration in recent months.
President Trump called the company “left-wing nut jobs” in February after it refused to remove safeguards on its AI for use in surveillance and autonomous weapons. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Anthropic “a supply chain risk to national security” in a post on X.
One of The Post’s sources said that several senior figures at the White House claimed they had not been briefed on the appointment ahead of his getting the job.
The AI Safety Institute was established in November 2023 at the request of President Joe Biden, before the Trump administration changed its name to the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). The body is meant to serve as a point of contact between the US government and private AI firms, to facilitate things like testing and collaborative research.
The leadership role at the department will now instead go to Chris Fall, according to the sources, a former director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
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Dean Ball, another noted AI researcher, said Burns had been “rewarded by his country with a punch in the face” following the move in a post on X.
The feud between Anthropic and the Trump administration has no clear end in sight. Anthropic sued the Pentagon in March over the “supply chain risk” designation. But Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with White House officials last Friday, according to reports from CNBC, and President Trump later said in an interview with “Squawk Box” that he “had some very good talks with them,” adding, “I think we’ll get along with them just fine.”
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