The Brief July 24, 2025
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President Donald Trump released his long-awaited AI action plan on Wednesday, outlining steps to scale back regulations with the goal of establishing the US as a leader in the technology worldwide.
“The United States is in a race to achieve global dominance in artificial intelligence (AI). Whoever has the largest AI ecosystem will set global AI standards and reap broad economic and military benefits,” the introduction to the plan reads. “Just like we won the space race, it is imperative that the United States and its allies win this race.”
The 28-page strategy, called “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” centers on three “pillars”: accelerating AI innovation, building AI infrastructure in the US, and establishing the US as a leader in AI globally. It recommends dozens of actions for the federal government to take across those pillars over the next few months, including reducing the number of environmental regulations imposed on data centers and only contracting with large language model developers deemed free from “ideological bias.”
Trump has previously rolled back guardrails that President Biden had put on AI and made efforts to accelerate development of the technology since returning to the White House. Just hours after his inauguration, he resigned an Executive Order Biden issued in 2023 aimed at establishing safety standards for AI’s development and use. Days later, he signed an Executive Order focused on revoking “certain existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation, clearing a path for the United States to act decisively to retain global leadership in artificial intelligence.” More recently, his Administration announced that the AI Safety Institute established under Biden in November 2023 would be transformed into the “pro-innovation, pro-science US Center for AI Standards and Innovation.”
Later on Wednesday, Trump delivered remarks at an AI Summit at the White House and signed three Executive Orders related to AI. The first order will fast-track the permitting process for the construction of major AI infrastructure projects; the second will instruct Administration officials to promote the international export of American AI models; and the third will ban “the federal government from procuring AI technology that has been infused with partisan bias or ideological agendas, such as Critical Race Theory,” Trump said, adding that “from now on, the US government will deal only with AI that pursues truth, fairness, and strict impartiality.”
“From this day forward, it’ll be a policy of the United States to do whatever it takes to lead the world in artificial intelligence,” Trump said at the event.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s AI plan.
Pillar I: Accelerate AI Innovation
The first pillar outlines steps to “remove red tape and onerous regulation.” It recommends that federal agencies identify, revise, or repeal regulations that “unnecessarily hinder AI development or deployment.” If states have laws the Trump Administration believes to be overly burdensome, the plan threatens to limit the AI-related federal funding they receive.
“To maintain global leadership in AI, America’s private sector must be unencumbered by bureaucratic red tape,” the plan reads. “AI is far too important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stage, whether at the state or Federal level. The Federal government should not allow AI-related Federal funding to be directed toward states with burdensome AI regulations that waste these funds, but should also not interfere with states’ rights to pass prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation.”
The plan also states that AI systems must “be built from the ground up with freedom of speech and expression in mind” and reflect “truth rather than social engineering agendas.” To that end, it recommends that officials comb through the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI Risk Management Framework to “eliminate references to misinformation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and climate change” and that the federal government only contracts systems with large language model developers that “ensure that theirs are objective and free from top-down ideological bias,” among other actions.
Pillar II: Build American AI Infrastructure
The second pillar is focused on building AI infrastructure within the US It claims that “American energy capacity has stagnated since the 1970s while China has rapidly built out their grid,” calling this a “troubling trend” and outlining steps to bolster the energy infrastructure to establish America’s “AI dominance.”
The plan blames regulations, including environmental ones, for slowing infrastructure growth. It recommends fast-tracking environmental permitting by streamlining or reducing various regulations, including those under the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. The document also outlines measures to upgrade the country’s electric grid to better support AI data centers.
Pillar III: Lead in International AI Diplomacy and Security
The final pillar states that the US “must do more than promote AI within its own borders,” adding that the country “must also drive adoption of American AI systems, computing hardware, and standards throughout the world.” The plan recommends that the US export “its full AI technology stack—hardware, models, software, applications, and standards—to all countries willing to join America’s AI alliance.” It also criticizes a number of international bodies, including the United Nations and G7, for their proposed AI governance frameworks and development strategies.
“The United States supports like-minded nations working together to encourage the development of AI in line with our shared values,” the plan reads. “But too many of these efforts have advocated for burdensome regulations, vague ‘codes of conduct’ that promote cultural agendas that do not align with American values, or have been influenced by Chinese companies attempting to shape standards for facial recognition and surveillance.”
The plan advises that federal agencies “leverage the US position” in international settings “to vigorously advocate for international AI governance approaches that promote innovation, reflect American values, and counter authoritarian influence.”
