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Credibility Rating

5/5
Gold(5)

Gold standard. Rigorous peer review, high editorial standards, and strong institutional reputation.

Rating inherited from publication venue: NIST

CAISI/AISI is a key institutional actor in U.S. AI governance; relevant for understanding how the federal government approaches AI safety standards, voluntary frameworks, and international coordination on AI risk.

Metadata

Importance: 62/100homepage

Summary

The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) at NIST is the U.S. government's primary body for AI safety standards and industry coordination. It develops voluntary guidelines, evaluates AI systems for national security risks (cybersecurity, biosecurity), and represents U.S. interests in international AI standards efforts.

Key Points

  • CAISI serves as the official U.S. government liaison with industry on AI safety and security standards.
  • Develops voluntary standards and guidelines for AI system security rather than mandatory regulations.
  • Conducts unclassified evaluations of AI capabilities posing national security risks, including cyber and biosecurity threats.
  • Coordinates across federal agencies and participates in international AI standards bodies to protect U.S. competitiveness.
  • Assesses vulnerabilities in foreign AI systems as part of its security mandate.

Cited by 5 pages

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# Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)

The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) will serve as industry’s primary point of contact within the U.S. government to facilitate testing and collaborative research related to harnessing and securing the potential of commercial AI systems. To that end, CAISI will:

- Work with NIST organizations to develop guidelines and best practices to measure and improve the security of AI systems, and work with NIST staff to assist industry to develop voluntary standards.
- Establish voluntary agreements with private sector AI developers and evaluators, and lead unclassified evaluations of AI capabilities that may pose risks to national security. In conducting these evaluations, CAISI will focus on demonstrable risks, such as cybersecurity, biosecurity, and chemical weapons.
- Lead evaluations and assessments of capabilities of U.S. and adversary AI systems, the adoption of foreign AI systems, and the state of international AI competition.
- Lead evaluations and assessments of potential security vulnerabilities and malign foreign influence arising from use of adversaries’ AI systems, including the possibility of backdoors and other covert, malicious behavior.
- Coordinate with other federal agencies and entities, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Intelligence Community, to develop evaluation methods, as well as conduct evaluations and assessments.
- Represent U.S. interests internationally to guard against burdensome and unnecessary regulation of American technologies by foreign governments and collaborate with NIST staff to ensure U.S. dominance of international AI standards.

[Read the statement](https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2025/06/statement-us-secretary-commerce-howard-lutnick-transforming-us-ai) from Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick about the Center for AI Standards and Innovation.

## CAISI Research Blog

In December, CAISI published a write-up on how AI models can cheat on agentic evaluations, including lessons from our experience building and using AI-enabled

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Resource ID: c9c2bcaca0d2c3e6 | Stable ID: ZDg0OTFhNz