Top Trump artificial intelligence adviser to leave the White House

Source: Washington Post

Top Trump artificial intelligence adviser to leave the White House

Sriram Krishnan, who has been central to the administration’s AI efforts, will probably continue to play an active role in its approach to the technology.

June 6, 2026 at 12:27 p.m. EDT 28 minutes ago
6 min


David Sacks stands beside President Donald Trump as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, 2025. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Cat Zakrzewski

A tech investor who shaped the Trump administration’s pro-industry artificial intelligence policies will depart the White House at the end of the month. ... Sriram Krishnan has informed administration officials that he plans to leave his post as the White House senior policy adviser for AI to start an outside institution that will influence technology policy, according to a person familiar with his plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions. Planning for the new initiative is in nascent stages, but it is intended to allow the tech leader to continue to play an active role in the Trump administration’s response to the development of AI.

Krishnan was an architect of the administration’s “AI Action Plan,” which provided a blueprint to roll back regulation of the emerging technology and promote the build-out of data centers across the country. He also was among Trump’s tech advisers who crafted an executive order limiting states’ ability to regulate AI.

The efforts to advance a light-touch approach to AI often put Krishnan and his close ally David Sacks at odds with Trump’s populist supporters. Trump’s advisers from Silicon Valley have sought to promote policies that would accelerate development of AI, at a time when other Trump allies are increasingly alarmed about the technology’s potential to displace American workers and are advocating greater regulation.

{snip}

Top administration officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have grown increasingly concerned about Anthropic’s Mythos and other advanced AI models. The models have shown themselves adept at finding security flaws in software, creating concerns that adversaries could use them to launch cyberattacks on government agencies, banks and critical infrastructure. ... Those advances prompted some in the administration to reevaluate the approach that Krishnan and other advisers with Silicon Valley ties have promoted. This month, Trump signed an executive order that would allow the government to review the powerful new artificial intelligence models before they are released to the public.

{snip}

By Cat Zakrzewski
Cat Zakrzewski is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. Send her secure tips on Signal at cqz.17. She previously covered tech policy and was the founding anchor of The Technology 202 newsletter. Before joining The Post in 2018, she was a venture capital reporter for the Wall Street Journal. follow on X@Cat_Zakrzewski
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/cat-zakrzewski/

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/06/trump-top-ai-advisor-leaving-white-house/