Trump unveils AI Action Plan

Ensuring AI reflects “objective truth,” slashing onerous regulations, disseminating US AI tools around the world, and fast-tracking AI infrastructure: this is all part of President Donald Trump’s vision for AI policy.

The White House unveiled its “AI Action Plan” Wednesday ahead of a scheduled appearance by the president at an event in Washington, DC. The 28-page document lays out three pillars of US AI policy in the Trump era: accelerating AI innovation, building American AI infrastructure, and leading international diplomacy and security around AI.

Trump is expected to sign a series of related executive orders this week to help implement the plan. He’s slated to appear at an event Wednesday evening hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum and the All In Podcast, which is co-hosted by tech investor-turned-White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks.

Large chunks of the plan echo bipartisan rhetoric about ensuring the US maintains a leading role in the AI race and integrates the tech into its economy. But other aspects reflect the Trump administration’s push to root out diversity efforts and climate initiatives, as well as a Republican-led attempt to ban states from regulating AI.

The plan recommends deleting “references to misinformation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and climate change” in federal risk management guidance and prohibiting the federal government from contracting with large language model (LLM) developers unless they “ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias” — a standard it hasn’t yet clearly defined. It says the US must “reject radical climate dogma and bureaucratic red tape” to win the AI race.

It also seeks to remove state and federal regulatory hurdles for AI development, including by denying states AI-related funding if their rules “hinder the effectiveness of that funding or award,” effectively resurrecting a failed congressional AI law moratorium. The plan also suggests cutting rules that slow building data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facilities, and expanding the power grid to support “energy-intensive industries of the future.”

The Trump administration wants to create a “‘try-first’ culture for AI across American industry,” to encourage greater uptake of AI tools. It encourages the government itself to adopt AI tools, including doing so “aggressively” within the Armed Forces. As AI alters workforce demands, it seeks to “rapidly retrain and help workers thrive in an AI-driven economy.”

The administration recently lifted restrictions on Nvidia from selling some of its advanced AI chips to companies in China. But the AI Action Plan suggests it’s still contemplating some restrictions on selling US technology to foreign adversaries, by recommending the government “address gaps in semiconductor manufacturing export controls.”

The plan also discusses fostering science and research around AI development, investing in biosecurity as AI is used to find new cures for diseases, and creating the necessary legal framework to combat deepfakes.

Implementing this plan and “Winning the AI race” will ensure the country’s security, competitiveness, and economic wellbeing, according to an intro by Sacks, the president’s science and technology advisor Michael Kratsios, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The opportunity that stands before us is both inspiring and humbling,” they write. “And it is ours to seize, or to lose.”