The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is a Washington-based technology trade association whose members include Google, OpenAI and Nvidia (Source: axios.com). Founded in 1916, it describes itself as the oldest high-technology trade association (Source: itic.org). Its AI advocacy has run along two lines: support for a federal AI framework that preempts state regulation, and opposition to writing semiconductor export controls into statute. The second line produced a public break with Anthropic, which ended its ITI membership in September 2026.
Overview
ITI organizes its work through divisions covering the major and emerging issues of its industry, and maintains membership, affiliate-membership and affiliated-organization structures (Source: itic.org). Its president and chief executive is Jason Oxman, who is reported to be retiring in February 2027 (Source: insideaipolicy.com).
Federal preemption of state AI law
ITI sits on the preemption side of the AI-federalism debate alongside CCIA, Chamber of Progress and NetChoice. On June 4, 2026 it endorsed the Obernolte–Trahan discussion draft, highlighting the draft's state-preemption provisions (Source: insideaipolicy.com). On July 27, 2026, timed to the first anniversary of the Trump administration's AI action plan, it renewed its call for a federal AI framework preempting state regulation (Source: insideaipolicy.com). See AI Industry Lobbying — The 2025-2026 Political Offensive and Techno-Federalism: How Regulatory Fragmentation Shapes the U.S.-China AI Race.
Export controls and the FY2027 NDAA
On September 3, 2026 ITI led a joint letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees urging that three export-control measures in the Senate manager's package be kept out of the final FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act: the Chip Security Act (S.Amdt. 6105), the AI OVERWATCH Act (S.Amdt. 6575) and the MATCH Act (S.Amdt. 6585). The letter was signed by ITI together with CCIA, the Consumer Technology Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and the United States Council for International Business (Coalition letter to the Armed Services Committees on FY2027 NDAA export-control amendments (September 3, 2026)).
The letter's arguments are that mandated chip tracking under the Chip Security Act would deepen allied perceptions of US government control over American technology, citing a State Department cable instructing diplomats to push back on "kill switch" narratives; that the AI OVERWATCH Act would freeze AI chip export controls in statute for at least eighteen months, which the letter calls "an eternity in the fast-moving AI sector," and would make Congress rather than the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security "the final arbiter of export control decisions"; and that the MATCH Act would expand controls on US semiconductor manufacturing equipment by statute. The letter also records that the Senate version of the AI OVERWATCH Act "removes provisions that would help advance the U.S.-led AI infrastructure buildout by trusted firms," while crediting Senate sponsors with improving on the House companion, H.R.6875 (Coalition letter to the Armed Services Committees on FY2027 NDAA export-control amendments (September 3, 2026)). See Export Controls (AI).
Anthropic's departure
Anthropic ended its ITI membership over the letter, a decision that became public on September 8, 2026. Anthropic supports all three bills. An ITI spokesperson said Anthropic "informed us of its decision to leave ITI because of the broad consensus position of the ITI membership that the Chip Security Act, AI OVERWATCH Act, and MATCH Act should not advance in the NDAA," and that "our membership is aligned that these bills undermine the American tech stack" (Source: axios.com).
Axios reported that all three bills advanced out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support and were included in the Senate NDAA manager's package following White House technical assistance, and that the AI OVERWATCH Act's congressional review period for sensitive dual-use chip export licenses had been shortened from two years to eighteen months. The bills have also drawn support from Heritage Action and American Compass. The Senate was scheduled to return from recess on September 14, 2026 with the NDAA awaiting floor action (Source: axios.com).
The departure is one of several occasions on which Anthropic has taken a position apart from other large developers, including on state AI safety legislation and on the July 2026 open-weights letter it did not directly sign (Source: axios.com).
Other federal engagement
Following the August 27, 2026 judgment in Anthropic v. United States (Pentagon ban challenge), Oxman said the ruling "removes uncertainty for businesses across industry seeking to partner with the U.S. government" (Source: nextgov.com) — a position taken eleven days before the same association's export-control letter prompted Anthropic's exit.
Chamber of Progress founder and chief executive Adam Kovacevich held a role at ITI before founding that organization (Source: progresschamber.org).
Open questions
- ITI's current full membership roster and its governance structure are not established on the sources reviewed here; the association's membership page was not retrieved.
- Whether other member companies followed Anthropic in leaving, and whether ITI's position on the three bills changed before the NDAA reached the Senate floor, is not recorded on the sources reviewed here.
- Jason Oxman's successor is not named on the sources reviewed here.
Relationships
- related: CCIA — Computer & Communications Industry Association — co-signatory of the September 3, 2026 NDAA export-controls letter and a fellow proponent of federal preemption
- related: Chamber of Progress — fellow preemption advocate; its founder previously held a role at ITI
- related: NetChoice — fellow preemption advocate
- related: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) — separate organization with a similar acronym and an overlapping deregulatory posture; not affiliated
- contradicts: Anthropic — Anthropic supports the three export-control bills ITI's letter opposes, and ended its membership over the disagreement
- regulated-by: FY27 National Defense Authorization Act (Chairman's Mark) — the vehicle whose contents the September 2026 letter sought to change
- depends-on: Export Controls (AI) — the policy regime the letter argues should stay with the executive branch
- depends-on: AI Federalism — the framework for its preemption advocacy
- supports: Frontier Act / Great American AI Act (Obernolte–Trahan) — endorsed June 4, 2026
- related: AI Industry Lobbying — The 2025-2026 Political Offensive — the trade-association channel of AI policy advocacy
- depends-on: Coalition letter to the Armed Services Committees on FY2027 NDAA export-control amendments (September 3, 2026) — the September 3, 2026 letter itself
- related: Anthropic v. United States (Pentagon ban challenge) — Oxman commented on the August 2026 judgment
- related: OpenAI, Nvidia & TSMC — AI Compute Infrastructure, Google DeepMind — named member companies