# CAISI Adds Microsoft, Google, and xAI to Pre-Deployment Frontier Access — Still Voluntary

Times of AI Desk · 2026-05-05 · Policy

[https://timesof.ai/2026/05/caisi-us-gov-agreements-microsoft-google-xai-ai-model-testing](https://timesof.ai/2026/05/caisi-us-gov-agreements-microsoft-google-xai-ai-model-testing)

> Commerce’s CAISI announces agreements with Microsoft, Google DeepMind, and xAI for early frontier-model access and national-security evaluations — expanding prior OpenAI/Anthropic deals. Guardrails often stripped for probing; 40+ evals completed. Institutionalized voluntary vetting, not a binding pre-release statute.

Washington is building a **voluntary pre-deployment evaluation path**, not an EU-style statute. CAISI’s new agreements expand who shares models early — Microsoft, Google DeepMind, and **xAI** joining the OpenAI/Anthropic precedent — while Mythos-class cyber capability keeps the urgency high.

**CAISI** at the U.S. Department of Commerce (May 5) announced agreements with **Microsoft**, **Google DeepMind**, and **xAI** for early access to new frontier AI models for national security and security-risk evaluations before deployment. Builds on existing deals with OpenAI and Anthropic; tied to July 2025 AI Action Plan pledges. CAISI (within NIST) has completed **more than 40** evaluations of cutting-edge models.

## Scope

- Developers provide early access, often with safety guardrails removed for probing.
- CAISI assesses capabilities, security risks, and national-security implications before public deployment.
- Collaborative research on capabilities and safeguards.

**Microsoft**: adversarial assessments; co-develop systematic evaluation approaches, shared frameworks/datasets/workflows; parallel UK AISI agreement. **Google DeepMind** and **xAI**: models for similar capability/risk evaluations. CAISI Director Chris Fall: independent measurement science is essential for frontier AI national-security implications.

## Claims vs checks

Agreements and Microsoft’s own On the Issues post are **primary**; Reuters confirms Microsoft/Google/xAI early-access framing. “Before deployment” is partnership practice — not a legal prohibition on shipping without CAISI sign-off. Mythos dual-use alarm is contemporaneous context, not a CAISI finding in this release.

## Limits

- Voluntary; non-participants and open-weight paths sit outside.
- Eval results largely non-public.
- Guardrail-stripped access is for evaluators — residual leakage risk is a process question.

## Sources

- [Reuters: “Microsoft, Google and xAI to give US government early access to AI models for security checks”](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/microsoft-xai-google-will-share-ai-models-with-us-govt-security-reviews-2026-05-05) (May 5, 2026).
- [Microsoft: “Advancing AI evaluation with CAISI (US) and AISI (UK)”](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2026/05/05/advancing-ai-evaluation-with-the-center-for-ai-standards-us-and-innovation-and-the-ai-security-institute-uk) (May 5, 2026).
- CAISI/NIST statements via Commerce reporting.