The National Institute of Standards and Technology could fire as many as 500 staff, according to multiple reports.
Axios this week said it was “a layoff that American Chips, part of the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) and NIST, targeted probationary employees (usually their first or second year at work). “It was blocked.” And Bloomberg said some of these employees have already been verbally notified of future firing.
Even before the latest layoff report, Aisi’s future looked uncertain. The institute, which is supposed to study risk and develop standards for AI development, was created last year as part of then-President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI safety. President Donald Trump abolished the order on his first day in office, and Aisi’s superintendent left in February.
Fortune spoke to many AI safety and policy agencies that all criticized the reported layoffs.
“These reductions, if confirmed, have a serious impact on the government’s ability to investigate and address critical AI safety concerns at a time when such expertise is more important than ever before. ” said Jason Greenlow, executive director of the AI Policy Center.
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