Top White House official forced to clean up mess after aide spooked tech industry: report

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was forced onto social media Thursday to reassure the tech industry after her own National Economic Council director went off-script and publicly floated FDA-style government approval requirements for new AI models — touching off nearly a day of anxiety across the sector, according to Politico.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, had suggested the administration was considering a vetting process for new AI models similar to the FDA's drug approval system. The comments sent the tech sector into a panic, forcing Wiles to step in, tweeting that the administration was pushing a strategy that "empowers America's great innovators, not bureaucracy."

But the cleanup did little to resolve the underlying confusion. Several lobbyists and policy advisers told Politico there is no clarity on where the White House stands.

“There is no clarity,” said one senior tech lobbyist. The person added that “different factions within the White House have different views about what should happen.”

The lobbyist said the administration’s “lack of organization is both increasing anxiety across the AI policy ecosystem and also impeding the development of effective policy, because they’re not really getting the right folks in the room to have these conversations. I think that has left people scrambling to try to figure out exactly what the White House is doing.”

The episode is just the latest sign of dysfunction in an administration whose relationship with the AI industry has grown increasingly volatile, even as GOP infighting over AI policy threatens to become a midterm liability, Congress remains gridlocked on guardrails, and public backlash against AI infrastructure continues to mount.