Collin Burns is a former Anthropic researcher who briefly served as head of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) in April 2026 before being dismissed after four days on the job.
Roles
Burns was appointed to lead CAISI, the renamed successor to the US AI Safety Institute under the Trump-era reorientation of federal AI safety policy. He was dismissed by the White House after four days, per a Washington Post report dated April 24, 2026. (Source: washingtonpost.com)
Background
Burns previously worked as a researcher at Anthropic before moving into the federal AI-standards role.
Context
The four-day tenure occurred alongside the withdrawn nomination of Sean Plankey to head CISA, reportedly over "irreconcilable differences" on AI-cyber policy, indicating friction inside the administration over AI personnel drawn from industry, particularly those affiliated with Anthropic. It also coincided with Politico reporting (April 24, 2026) that a separate White House faction was pushing for a thaw with Anthropic, motivated in part by access to Mythos for federal cyber-vulnerability detection, and with qualified positive comments from President Trump to CNBC about the company. (Source: politico.com)