The Framework Podcast 05.26.26

Washington failed to land its own punch on AI this week. President Trump postponed the long-anticipated frontier-model executive order hours before the May 21 signing, exposing factional rifts inside the administration and the tech industry over how aggressively the federal government should pre-screen advanced AI systems. The Senate Intelligence Committee filled some of the void by marking up an FY27 Intelligence Authorization Act that codifies new oversight of the IC’s use of AI on a bipartisan 14-3 vote, and the FTC closed a $930,000 Operation AI Comply settlement against Cox Media Group for deceptive “Active Listening” claims. State legislatures, near sine die in most jurisdictions, shifted from new introductions to chamber passage of frontier-model, chatbot, and watermark bills in Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina, Minnesota, and California. For AI companies, the signal is unchanged: the federal lane is unsettled, the state lane is operational, and the compliance map is still being drawn at the state line.