Gov. Tina Kotek signed an executive order Tuesday, Sept. 22, requiring new safety reviews before Oregon state agencies buy or use advanced artificial intelligence systems.

Executive Order 26-26 directs the state's chief information officer to develop standards for third-party safety reviews of what the order calls "frontier AI models." The CIO must also assess whether the state should require a "kill switch" capable of shutting down those systems.

The order takes effect immediately. The CIO has 90 days to submit an implementation plan to the governor, putting that deadline around late December.

"States, in the meantime, must act with more urgency and do everything possible to manage how AI is impacting our communities," Kotek said in the governor's office announcement, citing what she called President Donald Trump's dismissal of the need for basic guardrails on AI.

Kotek framed the order as a stopgap. She said she is committed to using her executive authority to put safeguards in place until the Oregon Legislature and Congress pass comprehensive AI standards.

Oregon already requires state agencies to follow responsible-AI guidelines covering risk management, human accountability and transparency, according to the governor's office. The executive order adds procurement-specific rules for the most powerful AI models.

The governor must reassess the order every three months.

Salem data center debate continues

The executive order lands amid an escalating debate over data center development in Salem. In July, Kotek directed the Department of Administrative Services to terminate the state's contract for the sale of roughly 32 acres at the Mill Creek Corporate Center in southeast Salem. The move blocked a proposed data center project.

She followed that in August by ordering every state agency to pause unapproved land deals for data center projects through July 1, 2027. OPB reported Sept. 10 that Kotek announced support for a statewide moratorium on new data center construction as she campaigns for reelection.

Meanwhile, Alderstone LLC, a subsidiary of data center developer Verrus, filed a land-use application in August for a $394 million, 600,000-square-foot data center project on 100.2 acres in southeast Salem, according to the Salem Business Journal.

The Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee is set to deliver final recommendations to Kotek by the end of 2026, according to the governor's office. Those recommendations will inform legislation she plans to introduce in the 2027 legislative session.