Microsoft Corp. (MSFT  ), Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL  ) (GOOG  ) Google, and Elon Musk's xAI have pledged to grant the U.S. government early access to their latest artificial intelligence models to facilitate preliminary national security risk assessments. The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) under the Department of Commerce announced the agreement on Tuesday. The deal would allow the center to examine and research the AI models to determine their capabilities and potential security risks before their public deployment.

The body has already conducted over 40 evaluations, including on advanced models that are not yet publicly available. Developers often submit versions of their models with safety guardrails removed, enabling the center to thoroughly assess national security risks.

Chris Fall, the Director of CAISI, underscored the necessity of independent and rigorous measurement science in comprehending the impact of frontier AI on national security.

This agreement builds on the 2024 deals with OpenAI and Anthropic, which were established during the Biden administration when CAISI was known as the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.

This agreement comes in the wake of recent national security concerns related to AI. Last week, the Pentagon's tech chief, Emil Michael, highlighted the potential security risks of Anthropic's Claude models. He also noted the advanced cyber capabilities of Mythos, another AI model, which could potentially identify and rectify cyber vulnerabilities.

The same day, the Defense Department also announced agreements with seven companies, including Alphabet's Google, OpenAI, Nvidia Corp (NVDA  ), Microsoft Corp, Amazon (AMZN  ), SpaceX and a new startup, Reflection, to deploy their technology across the agency's classified networks for approved operational use, as part of an effort to diversify systems and capabilities.

Furthermore, Alphabet's president of global affairs, Kent Walker, confirmed Google's commitment to supporting defense agencies with AI. Walker assured that Google's support for military uses of AI is in line with the approaches of other major AI labs.