CAISI is the U.S. government's primary point of contact for AI testing and research within NIST, focused on developing voluntary AI standards and conducting evaluations of frontier AI systems. It was renamed from the U.S. AI Safety Institute in June 2025.
CAISI is the U.S. government's primary point of contact for AI testing and research within NIST, focused on developing voluntary AI standards and conducting evaluations of frontier AI systems. It was renamed from the U.S. AI Safety Institute in June 2025.
People
Updated 05/18/26Member, AI Safety Institute Consortium
Cybersecurity Career Ambassador, National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE)
Member - Community of Interest (COIs)
FISSEA Planning Committee Member
Research Team Supervisor
Director
Law Enforcement Subcommittee Member, National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Commitee (NAIAC)
Cybersecurity Engineer
Funding Details
Updated 05/18/26- Annual Budget
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Org Details
Updated 05/18/26The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) is housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. It traces its origins to the U.S. AI Safety Institute (USAISI/AISI), which was announced by Vice President Kamala Harris at the UK AI Safety Summit in November 2023 and formally established following Executive Order 14110. Elizabeth Kelly served as its founding Director and Elham Tabassi as its Chief Technology Officer. In June 2025, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick rebranded the organization as the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), reflecting a shift in emphasis from broad safety concerns toward innovation, competitiveness, and demonstrable security risks. Core responsibilities were largely preserved: developing voluntary guidelines and best practices for measuring and improving AI system security, establishing voluntary agreements with private sector AI developers and evaluators, conducting unclassified evaluations of AI capabilities that may pose risks to national security (focusing on cybersecurity, biosecurity, and chemical weapons threats), assessing U.S. and foreign AI systems, and coordinating with agencies including DoD, DoE, DHS, OSTP, and the Intelligence Community. CAISI also represents U.S. interests in international AI standards bodies to prevent burdensome foreign regulation and ensure U.S. dominance in global AI standards. In February 2026, CAISI launched the AI Agent Standards Initiative to ensure that autonomous AI agents are adopted securely and can interoperate across digital ecosystems, built around three pillars: industry-led standards development, open-source protocol development, and security and identity research. CAISI maintains a consortium (formerly the AISIC) of over 280 organizations from industry, academia, government, and civil society. The organization is headquartered at NIST's main campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Theory of Change
Updated 05/18/26CAISI believes that developing voluntary, industry-aligned technical standards and conducting rigorous evaluations of frontier AI systems will reduce AI-related risks to national security and public safety. By serving as a trusted intermediary between government and industry, publishing measurement frameworks, and leading international standards efforts, CAISI aims to create conditions where AI is deployed with known and manageable security properties—particularly against demonstrable threats like cyberattacks, biosecurity risks, and chemical weapons misuse.
Grants Received– no grants recorded
Updated 05/18/26Projects– no linked projects
Updated 05/18/26Discussion
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