White House Takes Over AI Model Release Rights: When "Frontier" Shifts from Technical to Political Definition

Last week, while translating a paper on AI safety research, I ran into a tricky term: frontier models. The authors defined it as "systems that surpass the strongest current public models in general capabilities." This definition is technical, with boundaries drawn by benchmarks and compute. But after reading this CNBC report, I noticed an ironic shift—the same phrase will be redefined in the White House's latest executive order as "AI systems determined by the National Security Council to have significant implications for national security or foreign policy." The power to define terms is shifting from labs to administrative offices.