Trump's latest memo puts the world's most advanced artificial intelligence in the hands of the military.

Trump’s latest memo puts the “most progressive AI in the world” into the hands of the military

The memo also prevents companies from changing AI models used by the military without prior permission.

Less than a week after the signing of an Implementing Regulation regulating the booming AI industry, President Trump has signed a memorandum of the President on National Security, which aims to give the US military the most modern AI tools. According to the memo signed on Friday, the Trump administration establishes another framework that would speed up “the AI introduction” in a network of federal defense agencies and “adapt the best commercial and open-source technologies for mission deployment”.

“The men and women who defend our nation deserve the best, safest and most reliable AI in the world, and our citizens deserve the assurance that this will be handled responsibly and with the care and seriousness they expect,” said Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Science and Technology Policy Office, X.

In concrete terms, the memo states that the U.S. government will implement “a quick introduction of the most advanced AI models of different providers”. Together with the faster introduction, Defence Minister Pete Hegseth must adopt an updated directive on autonomous weapons systems. Finally, the memo introduces a new restriction for AI models used by the government, in which “no companies, neither commercially nor otherwise, an AI system to which American war fighters are dependent, may disable, degrade or modify without prior permission”.

However, there is a limitation in the memo in which the network of U.S. defence authorities cannot create or publish an AI model designed to “create free expression, embed ideological bias or carry out illegal surveillance against the American people”. However, the government continues to be interested in influencing “border models” as Trump’s Executive Order from the beginning of this week would give the US government a 30-day time window to examine it before publication.