Wegende dismissed by the Trump administration and the so-called department of government's efficiency can come as soon as this week at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulating agency responsible for setting up From benchmarks that guarantee everything from beauty to quantum computers are safe and reliable.
According to various current and former employees at Nist, the agency has braced its cuts since President Donald Trump took office last month and billionaire Elon Musk and Doge ordered to lower the expenditure in the federal government. The fears were raised last week when some NIST employees witnessed a handful of people they believed they were associated with Doge in Building 225, in which the Nist Information Technology Laboratory, Maryland Campus of the Agency, was established, according to several People who were aware of the observations. The Doge staff sought access to Nist IT systems, one of the people said.
Shortly after the alleged visit, Nist -Leadership told employees that DOGE employees were not currently on campus, but that office space and technology were provided for them, according to the same people.
On Wednesday, Axios and Bloomberg reported that Nist had started informing some employees that they could be fired soon. About 500 recent recruitments that still have a probationary status and can be released more easily were, according to the reports that are expected to be influenced. Three sources say Wired that the cutbacks probably influence technical experts in leadership positions, including three laboratory directors who were promoted in the past year. One person who is familiar with the agency tells Wired that the official dismissal reports can come on Friday.
The White House and a spokesperson for Nist, who is part of the Ministry of Trade, have not yet returned requests for comments.
A NIST team that fears cuts due to the number of probation workers is the US AI Safety Institute (AISI), which was established after the major executive order of former President Joe Biden on AI issued in October 2023. Trump has withdrawn the order shortly after the Take the office last month and describes it as a 'barrier for American leadership in artificial intelligence'.
The AI Safety Institute and are about two dozen employees have worked closely with AI companies, including rivals for Musk's Startup Xai such as OpenAi and Anthropic, to understand and test the possibilities of their most powerful models. Musk was an early investor in OpenAi and is currently suing the startup in the field of his decision to switch from a non-profit to a profit motive.
The inaugural director of Aisi, Elizabeth Kelly, announced that she left her role earlier this month. Various other controversial NIST leaders who work on AI have also left in recent weeks, including Reva Schwartz, who led Nist's assessment risks and effects of AI program, and Elham Tabassi, the most important AI adviser of Nist. Kelly and Schwartz refused to comment. Tabassi did not respond to a request for comment.
The American Vice President JD Vance recently indicated the intention of the new administration to deprive AI safety on the AI Action Summit, an important international meeting in Paris last week that AISI and other government staff were not invited to participate, According to three who are familiar with the issue. “I am not here this morning to talk about AI safety,” Vance said in his first major speech as VP. “I am here to talk about AI opportunity.”
