NIST cuts would put US behind AI eightball, tech groups warn Commerce secretary
U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence would be compromised by cuts to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, top tech trade associations warned in a letter sent Monday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
In the letter, the tech groups praised NIST’s AI work that began during President Donald Trump’s first term, making the case to Lutnick that the agency “has proven to be a critical enabler for the U.S. government and U.S. industry to maintain AI leadership globally.”
As the Trump administration slashes jobs across the federal government, the letter writers want NIST — a Department of Commerce agency — to continue “to play a vital role in advancing American leadership in … AI innovation” by pursuing “a strategy that leverages NIST’s leadership and expertise on standards development, voluntary frameworks, public-private sector collaboration, and international harmonization.”
Trump’s AI executive order paved the way for NIST-developed technical standards and the agency’s AI Risk Management Framework, the tech groups noted. Those initiatives plus Commerce’s “light-touch, non-regulatory approach” has led to continued U.S. innovation and global competitiveness, per the letter, which was signed by the Software & Information Industry Association, Americans for Responsible Innovation, the Center for AI Policy, the Computer & Communication Industry Association, Engine, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition, TechNet, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s Center for Data Innovation.
Under Lutnick’s leadership, Commerce has disbanded two expert panels on economic data, scrapped an advisory board to the Census Bureau, announced sweeping changes to its broadband program and fired hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees, with more cuts reportedly on the way. According to Axios, more than 70 probationary employees at NIST were dismissed last week.
The tech groups argue that NIST’s work goes beyond “maintaining technical excellence”; it’s also about making sure that the United States “continues to set the global benchmark for innovation” at a time when global competitors “are ramping up their investments in AI.” Only sustained government research and development on the technology will keep the U.S. in the driver’s seat on AI, per the letter.
“We caution that downsizing NIST or eliminating these initiatives will have ramifications for the ability of the American AI industry to continue to lead globally,” the letter stated. “A reshaped approach — one that aligns NIST’s world-leading expertise in standards and R&D with security and economic imperatives — will ensure that America continues to lead in AI and other emerging technologies.”
