Executive Order 13960: Promoting the Use of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in the Federal Government
President: Donald J. Trump
Set principles for federal agencies' use of artificial intelligence and directed inventories, risk management and government-wide guidance.
Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13960 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13960 remains in use, with later implementation guidance; EO 14319 of July 23, 2025 expressly builds on it for federal large-language-model procurement.
What does Executive Order 13960 do?
EO 13960 set principles for federal use of artificial intelligence and a process to identify, assess and govern agency applications. Its scope included existing and planned mission-related uses, decision support, public benefits and AI acquired from third parties. It was an instruction about government deployment and procurement, not a comprehensive regulation of every private AI developer or every commercial application. Official source.
The principles required legal compliance, respect for rights, benefits that outweighed assessable risks, accuracy and reliability, security, understandable outcomes, defined human responsibilities and accountability. Agencies were to test systems, document safeguards and provide training. Transparency was qualified by laws protecting privacy, national-security information and other sensitive records; public inventory requirements were not permission to release protected applicant data. Official source.
The implementation mechanism combined common guidance with agency inventories. Agencies had to identify responsible officials, inventory nonclassified and nonsensitive uses, assess inconsistencies and plan either correction or retirement of noncompliant systems. The order also sought AI expertise through the Presidential Innovation Fellows and employee rotational programs, recognizing that governance required staff capability as well as a published list of principles. Official source.
Before and after
Before the order
Agencies already operated under information-technology, privacy and management policies. The order preserved consistent existing guidance while directing OMB to identify revisions for novel AI issues. Before it, these specific inventory deadlines and government-wide principles were not imposed through EO 13960. Official source.
After the order
The CIO Council was to establish inventory criteria and agencies then had staged deadlines for inventories, interagency sharing, public access and compliance plans. Later OMB guidance refined federal AI management and acquisition. The April 2025 acquisition memorandum cites this order, and EO 14319 expressly builds on it. These are evidence of continuing implementation, not proof that every agency application complies or that all inventories are complete. Official source.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| Agency heads / responsible officials / Agency Data Governance Bodies | Designate coordinating officials, apply principles, prepare inventories, assess existing applications and plan correction or retirement. | Officials 30 days; inventories 180 days after CIO guidance and annually; plans 120 days after inventory; strive to implement within 180 days after approval. |
| OMB Director | Publish a roadmap for guidance revisions and common policy direction. | Roadmap within 180 days. |
| Federal CIO Council | Publish inventory criteria, format and mechanisms and recommended coordination forums. | Inventory guidance 60 days; recommended forums 45 days. |
| CIO and Chief Data Officer Councils | Coordinate sharing of agency inventories and AI practices. | Sharing within 60 days after agency inventory; public access within 120 days, subject to protections. |
| GSA / Presidential Innovation Fellows program | Identify expertise priorities and establish an AI track. | Within 90 days. |
| OPM, coordinating GSA and relevant agencies | Inventory rotational programs and recommend how to expand agency AI expertise. | Inventory 45 days; recommendations 180 days after that inventory. |
| Responsible agency AI personnel | Receive appropriate training and monitor, audit and document safeguards. | Ongoing; no individual training deadline. |
What happened next
EO 13960 establishes federal AI principles and inventory requirements. Official source
OMB issues M-25-22 on federal AI acquisition, citing EO 13960. Official source
EO 14319 expressly builds on EO 13960 for procurement of large language models. Official source
Legal and source detail
Sources by type
The order uses the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act’s AI definition as a reference and defines covered agencies through title 44. It excludes Defense and wholly intelligence-community agencies, defense and national-security-system AI, routine commercial-product AI and research activities, with qualifications in the signed scope provisions. Privacy and civil-rights statutes still bind covered use. Appropriations limits and the absence of a new enforceable private right prevent the principles from being mistaken for unlimited spending authority or a standalone cause of action. Official source.
Primary and official sources
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 24, 2026. How we research →
Later primary evidence reviewed September 24, 2026: OMB's April 2025 AI-acquisition memorandum cites this order and provides later agency procurement guidance; it does not establish compliance by every agency. Official source. The cited steps do not establish every downstream effect.
OMB's April 2025 AI-acquisition memorandum cites this order and provides later agency procurement guidance; it does not establish compliance by every agency.
Later primary evidence reviewed: OMB's April 2025 AI-acquisition memorandum cites this order and provides later agency procurement guidance; it does not establish compliance by every agency.