Salem, OR – Today, Governor Tina Kotek issued an executive order titled Establishing Responsible Artificial Intelligence Procurement Standards for State Government (EO 26-26) in order to advance new safeguards and oversight on frontier AI models in light of the federal government’s inaction to adequately consider the safety of Americans.
“While oversight and regulation would be strongest and most effective at the federal level, President Trump continues to dismiss the need for even the most basic guardrails,” Governor Kotek said. “States, in the meantime, must act with more urgency and do everything possible to manage how AI is impacting our communities.”
The executive order comes as top AI executives are sounding the alarm on the danger of rapid AI advancement without sufficient regulatory and safety regimes in place to keep them in check. As AI industry leaders call for a slowdown on AI development, President Trump and Congressional leaders continue to deny the need for independent oversight or even basic regulatory safeguards as frontier AI models continue to demonstrate the potential to break containment and threaten cybersecurity infrastructure.
EO 26-26 directs the State’s Chief Information Officer to develop standards or criteria for adequate third-party review for AI safety. The Governor’s executive action also directs the state to assess the viability of a “kill switch” requirement for frontier AI models.
Oregon has already established statewide requirements for responsible AI use across the executive branch, including risk management, human accountability, transparency and oversight. The new executive order builds on that work by directing the state to develop additional safeguards specifically for the procurement and use of frontier AI models.
“It’s encouraging to hear AI companies are beginning to come forward with proposals to address safety concerns, but we cannot simply wait for the private sector to self-regulate a technology that poses such an existential and evolving risk,” Governor Kotek continued. “We must act with urgency to address this issue, and I am committed to doing everything in my executive authority to put safeguards in place until the Oregon Legislature and Congress can pass comprehensive standards for AI companies that wish to bring their products to market here.”
The executive order takes effect immediately and will remain in effect until terminated by the Governor. The Governor shall reassess the necessity of this executive order every three months. Within 90 days of this executive order, the State Chief Information Officer will develop and submit to the Governor a proposal for its implementation.
The full text of EO 26-26 can be found here.
See an accompanying Frequently Asked Questions document here.