TL;DR

A three-way internal fight between the Commerce Department, intelligence agencies, and pro-industry factions has paralysed US federal AI regulation. Trump scrapped an executive order at the last minute, CAISI testing announcements were pulled from NIST’s website, and no framework exists weeks after Mythos demonstrated offensive cybersecurity capabilities.

The Trump administration is locked in an internal battle over artificial intelligence regulation that has paralysed federal AI policy at the moment it matters most. Three factions are fighting for control: the Commerce Department, which has been quietly building civilian testing partnerships with AI companies; national security officials who want intelligence agencies to evaluate frontier models before release; and pro-industry aides who argue that any regulation risks slowing American AI leadership. The conflict has been described by people involved as a “knife fight.”

The paralysis became visible in May. On 5 May, the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, housed within the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, announced pre-deployment testing agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Elon Musk’s xAI. Days later, the announcement was removed from NIST’s website with no explanation. CAISI staff were told to take the page down but not told why.

The executive order that never happened

The dysfunction escalated on 21 May when Trump abruptly scrapped the signing of a landmark executive order that would have formalised government partnerships with leading AI companies to vet cutting-edge models before public release. The signing ceremony was cancelled at the last minute, with Trump saying he worried the order “could dull America’s edge on AI technology.”

The order had been months in the making. Axios obtained the draft text, which would have established a framework for pre-release safety evaluations of frontier AI models, given CAISI a formal mandate, and created reporting requirements for companies developing the most powerful systems. Silicon Valley allies within the administration lobbied against the order, arguing it would replicate the regulatory approach of Biden’s AI executive order, which Trump had repealed on his first day in office.

The Mythos factor

The internal fight has been intensified by Anthropic’s Mythos model, which discovered more than 10,000 zero-day vulnerabilities across every major operating system and web browser. The model’s ability to autonomously identify and exploit software flaws alarmed national security officials, who argue that AI systems capable of this kind of offensive cybersecurity work must be evaluated by intelligence agencies before release, not by civilian standards bodies.

The Office of the National Cyber Director has proposed establishing a large AI evaluation centre within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, giving spy agencies a significant new role in AI policy. The proposal comes against the backdrop of the Pentagon’s supply-chain risk designation of Anthropic, which arose from the company’s refusal to grant the military unrestricted access to its models.

Commerce Department officials have pushed back, arguing that housing AI evaluation within the intelligence community would drive companies away from voluntary cooperation and turn safety testing into a national security function that other countries would view as weaponised. The civilian testing model, they argue, is the only approach that maintains trust with the AI industry while still providing the government with early visibility into frontier capabilities.

The regulatory vacuum

The result of the infighting is that the United States has no new federal AI regulation weeks after Mythos demonstrated capabilities that would have triggered immediate regulatory action in most other advanced economies. The European Union’s AI Act enters full enforcement in August 2026, giving European regulators statutory authority over AI systems that the US government currently lacks.

The contrast is not lost on industry. AI companies have complained about European overregulation, but the absence of any coherent US framework creates its own problems. Without clear federal rules, states are drafting their own AI legislation, companies face an unpredictable patchwork of requirements, and the government has no formal mechanism to evaluate models before deployment even when those models can find thousands of exploitable vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.

Trump’s first-day repeal of Biden’s AI executive order, which had established reporting thresholds for the most powerful AI models, removed the only existing federal framework. The administration’s stated rationale was that Biden’s approach was too heavy-handed and would stifle innovation. Sixteen months later, the replacement framework has not materialised, and the internal factions show no signs of reaching consensus.

What happens next

The stalled executive order may be revived in a weakened form, or the administration may pursue a more limited approach focused on voluntary commitments from AI companies rather than formal pre-release evaluation. Anthropic’s own Project Glasswing, which gives vetted organisations access to Mythos for cybersecurity testing, is effectively a private-sector substitute for the government evaluation programme that the White House cannot agree on.

The irony is that the administration’s pro-innovation stance, which was supposed to give American AI companies a competitive advantage over more heavily regulated European and Chinese rivals, has instead produced a policy vacuum that leaves the government unable to respond coherently to the most significant AI capability demonstration of the year. The knife fight continues, and the models keep getting more powerful.

TL;DR

Alphabet’s Verily is seeking EPA approval to release 64 million Wolbachia-carrying male mosquitoes in Florida and California over two years  to suppress Aedes aegypti populations. Earlier Debug trials achieved up to 95% reductions in biting mosquitoes in Fresno and 70%+ dengue reduction in Singapore.

Verily, the health and life sciences subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, has asked the US Environmental Protection Agency for permission to release up to 64 million lab-bred mosquitoes (up to 32 million per year) across Florida and California over two years. The proposal, submitted under the company’s Debug initiative, would deploy male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia bacteria into areas where the species transmits dengue fever, Zika virus, yellow fever, and chikungunya. The EPA is reviewing the application under an experimental use permit, with a public comment period running through early June.

The approach is elegant in its biology. Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium found in roughly 60% of insect species, but not in Aedes aegypti. When lab-reared males carrying Wolbachia mate with wild females that lack it, the resulting eggs do not develop. The males do not bite, do not transmit disease, and cannot reproduce with each other, making the release self-limiting. Each generation of released males reduces the wild population without introducing permanent genetic changes or synthetic chemicals into the environment.

The results so far

Debug has been running field trials since 2017. In Fresno, California, the programme achieved reductions in biting female Aedes aegypti populations of 68% in its first year, over 95% in 2018, and 84% in 2019. The results put it among the most effective biotech-driven population control methods tested at scale in the United States.

In Singapore, where the government has deployed Wolbachia-based mosquito control as part of its national dengue strategy, releases of sterile males achieved 80% to 90% suppression of Aedes aegypti populations and a more than 70% reduction in dengue cases within six to 12 months. The World Mosquito Program, which operates independently of Verily, has deployed Wolbachia across 14 countries using a different approach that infects both male and female mosquitoes to establish self-sustaining Wolbachia populations in the wild.

How Verily scales it

The challenge with mosquito releases is not the biology but the logistics. Releasing millions of male mosquitoes requires breeding them at scale, sorting them from females with near-perfect accuracy (releasing females would increase biting), and distributing them across target areas at the right density and timing. Verily is applying its parent company’s AI capabilities to each of these steps.

The Debug programme uses AI-powered mosquito sorting systems that can separate males from females using computer vision, automated breeding technology that maintains colony health at industrial scale, and specialised release platforms, including drones and ground-based dispensers, that distribute mosquitoes across target zones. The total programme scope is 64 million mosquitoes, broken down to 16 million per state per year over the two-year permit period. Some outlets have reported the figure as 32 million, which appears to refer to the annual release across both states rather than the full two-year total.

The debate

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of a tech company releasing tens of millions of insects into the wild. The intersection of AI, biotech, and public health raises questions about corporate involvement in ecological interventions, long-term environmental effects, and community consent. Critics have raised concerns about whether reducing one mosquito species could affect the food chain, whether Wolbachia could transfer to non-target species, and whether corporate-led biological interventions should require stricter oversight than the current EPA permit process provides.

Proponents counter that Aedes aegypti is an invasive species in the Americas, not part of the native ecosystem, and that its removal would have minimal ecological impact. The species is responsible for hundreds of millions of dengue infections annually worldwide, with cases rising sharply as climate change expands the mosquito’s range into previously temperate regions. AI-driven approaches to biological and medical challenges are producing results that traditional methods have struggled to match.

Why it matters for tech

Debug is one of the few surviving projects from Verily’s original mission to apply technology to life sciences at scale. Alphabet has restructured its health ambitions multiple times, shutting down or spinning off various initiatives. While most of Big Tech’s resources flow toward AI infrastructure, Verily’s mosquito programme represents a different kind of applied technology: using automation, computer vision, and logistics software to solve a public health problem that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.

If the EPA approves the permit, Florida and California would become the largest US deployment of Wolbachia-based mosquito control to date. The decision is expected after the public comment period closes, with releases potentially beginning in late 2026 or early 2027.

Sony is finally setting release dates for two PlayStation accessories that have been in the “coming soon” category since their debut last year. The company has confirmed that preorders for its FlexStrike wireless fight stick and its unusual 27-inch gaming monitor with a built-in DualSense charging hook will begin this June, with both products arriving later this summer.

For fighting game fans and desk-bound PlayStation players, these are arguably two of Sony’s most interesting hardware experiments outside the PS5 itself.

FlexStrike arrives just in time for fighting game season

Sony’s first wireless fight stick, the FlexStrike, will officially launch on August 6. The accessory is set to arrive alongside the growing excitement around Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, giving competitive players a new premium controller option for PS5 and PC.

Unlike traditional arcade sticks that can be cumbersome to carry around, Sony is pitching FlexStrike as a tournament-friendly device. It comes with a built-in rechargeable battery and even includes a dedicated sling carry case, making it easier to haul between local meetups, esports events, or simply a friend’s house. Preorders open on June 12, with a $200 price tag that places it squarely in enthusiast territory. That’s not cheap, but fight stick players have historically shown a willingness to invest in specialized gear if it offers reliability and convenience.

Sony thinks your gaming setup has moved beyond the living room

The second accessory may be even more intriguing. Sony’s new 27-inch gaming monitor is clearly aimed at players who have shifted from couch gaming to dedicated desk setups. The display features a 1440p IPS panel with variable refresh rate support and can hit 120Hz when paired with a PS5 or PS5 Pro. Connect it to a capable PC or Mac, however, and the refresh rate jumps to 240Hz.

What makes the monitor stand out isn’t necessarily its specs, though. It’s the small built-in charging hook designed specifically for a DualSense controller. Sony will open preorders for the monitor on June 5 through PlayStation Direct and Best Buy in the U.S., with a retail price of $350. The display is scheduled to launch on August 27 in the U.S. and Japan.

Both products signal Sony’s growing interest in gaming beyond the traditional console-and-TV setup. Whether you’re grinding ranked matches in a fighting game or building out a dedicated PlayStation desk station, Sony clearly wants a piece of that ecosystem too.