US President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) on Tuesday, which asked technology companies to voluntarily share advanced models before they are released, signalling a shift in the administration’s largely laissez-faire approach to the industry.

The voluntary framework allows the government to vet powerful new AI systems up to 30 days before their public release, but stops short of mandating review regulations, which were reportedly considered.

“We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in May.

“We have a very substantial standard on AI, it’s causing – it’s causing tremendous good, and it’s also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs,” Trump said, adding, “again, we have more people working right now than we’ve ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker.”

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In the new executive order, the US government will collaborate with select trusted partners “that will have early access to covered frontier models to promote secure innovation and strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure”.