Marco Rubio pushes back on US tech ‘kill switch’ concerns

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio circulated a cable instructing diplomats to counter the international narrative that the US holds a “kill switch" over American technology products.

The controversy stems from a short-lived June 12 Trump administration decision to block US residents from accessing Anthropic’s advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos, over national security grounds. Afterwards, the White House issued an executive order requiring a 30-day cybersecurity testing prior to release of the models.

As reported by Reuters, Rubio’s cable also urged the diplomats to fight “so-called digital sovereignty” initiatives, aiming to restrict the US tech firms’ access to foreign markets. Under these initiative-based rules, these firms have been obliged to follow localized requirements, content moderation rules and pay network usage fees.

The cable argued that temporary pauses or 30-day safety evaluations do not constitute a "kill switch" or a government "magic button," describing such narratives as exaggerated.

As per cable, the diplomats have been instructed to market US AI infrastructure as secure, reliable, and superior to building rival systems from scratch.

"American AI companies can build large, independent AI infrastructure, with secure and robust supply chains that ​minimize backdoor risk. They build it. It's yours,” the cable said.

When the Trump administration ordered the suspension of Anthropic’s models, this move ignited global reactions. European lawmakers argued that this move exposed dangers of relying on American technology due to its unpredictability. Therefore, the EU is looking to strive for AI sovereignty and digital independence.

Despite the efforts on the part of Rubio, experts are skeptical of the efficacy of such moves due to the Trump administration’s coercive tactics such as tariffs.

According to Edward Fishman, director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics ​at the Council on ⁠Foreign Relations, “European partners in particular were ⁠concerned that ​if their businesses became ultra reliant on US frontier AI models like those made by Anthropic and OpenAI, ​that the US could use that as an economic weapon against them down the road.”