By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.

Inside the Government's Cryptic New A.I. Framework

This week, the White House announced a new framework for regulating A.I. models, but it isn’t letting the public read it. We break down what we know about the rules and their implications for the industry and A.I. safety as a whole.

Kevin RoosehostCasey NewtonhostChris Painterguest

Aug 7, 20261h 0mWatch on YouTube ↗

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 7, 2026
Duration: 1h 0m
Channel: Hard Fork
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

This week, the White House announced a new framework for regulating A.I. models, but it isn’t letting the public read it. We break down what we know about the rules and their implications for the industry and A.I. safety as a whole. Then, yet another report details new incidents in which A.I. agents have gone rogue. Chris Painter, the president of METR, an independent A.I. evaluation organization, joins to discuss how we get these models under control. And finally, we’re hopping on the Hot Mess Express for the very last time! We’ll rate the craziest tech headlines from the week, including Google’s announcement that Demis Hassabis is stepping into a new role. Guest: Chris Painter, president of METR 00:00 The White House's new A.I. rules 20:44 Chris Painter on the state of A.I. alignment 42:18 Hot Mess Express! The messiest tech news of the week Additional Reading White House Readies A.I. Framework to Review Security Risks https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/technology/white-house-ai-framework.html Inside Trump’s AI framework https://www.axios.com/2026/08/04/trump-ai-framework-open-models How Do You Measure an A.I. Boom? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/technology/how-do-you-measure-an-ai-boom.html METR’s Frontier Risk Report https://metr.org/blog/2026-05-19-frontier-risk-report/#executive-summary-and-guide-to-the-report Google Shakes Up A.I. Leadership https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/technology/google-ai-leadership.html Did an A.I. Music App Just Snitch on the Song of the Summer? https://www.wired.com/story/ai-music-app-treblo-just-snitched-on-rubberz-song-of-the-summer/ This A.I. Assistant Wants to Make Up for Your Boyfriend’s Incompetence https://www.wired.com/story/this-ai-assistants-whole-pitch-is-making-up-for-your-boyfriends-incompetence/ Google Earth’s A.I. Deepfake Tool Only Lasted One Day https://www.theverge.com/tech/973943/google-earth-ai-image-generation-deepfake-tool U.S. Government Map of Africa Mislabels Every Country at Global Conference https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-government-map-africa-mislabels-every-country-global-conference-2026-07-30/ Contractor Who Built Colossus and Colossus II Says Elon Musk Owes Him Colossal Amount of Money https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/08/01/contractor-who-built-colossus-colossus-ii-says-elon-musk-owes-him-colossal-amount-money/ FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork Insta: Kevin Roose - https://www.instagram.com/kevinroose/ Casey Newton - https://www.instagram.com/crumbler/ Twitter (X): Kevin - https://x.com/kevinroose Casey - https://x.com/CaseyNewton Threads: Kevin - https://www.threads.net/@kevinroose Casey - https://www.threads.net/@crumbler Subscribe to our podcast: Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hard-fork/id1528594034 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/44fllCS2FTFr2x2kjP9xeT?si=86ba626802b849cd Amazon - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7c7fe198-e6a8-41a8-b0fe-1d46b976dcd8/hard-fork YouTube Music - https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9gMmtMLXxsa8C0PzHFL2tJFh7FrKrYD&si=Fwb9Uwon1ZneNsBp The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork Credits “Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton. Produced by Rachel Cohn and Whitney Jones. We’re edited by Vjeran Pavic. Engineering by Chris Wood and original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Sophia Lanman and Rowan Niemisto. Fact-checking by Caitlin Love. Video production by Chris Schodt and Sawyer Roque. Video QC by Isabella Anderson. Podcast Art Direction by Benjamin Wilkerson Tousley. Podcast Art & Animations by Julian Hespenheide. Additional Motion graphics by Phil Robibero. Thumbnails by Julia Moburg, Elizabeth Bristow, and Benjamin Wilkerson Tousley. Special thanks to Brooke Minters, Paula Szuchman, Pui-Wing Tam and Dahlia Haddad.

SPEAKERS

Kevin Roose
host
Technology columnist at The New York Times and co-host of Hard Fork.
Casey Newton
host
Journalist (Platformer founder) and co-host of Hard Fork.
Chris Painter
guest
Researcher at METR focused on AI evaluations, model behavior, and safety.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Hard Fork, featuring Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, Inside the Government's Cryptic New A.I. Framework explores Secretive White House AI tests, misaligned agents, and messy tech fallout Kevin Roose and Casey Newton discuss a White House framework for testing frontier AI models that they say was finalized but not publicly released, with details shared mainly through private briefings.

RELATED EPISODES