The Trump administration unveiled Wednesday a framework for its artificial intelligence (AI) policy, placing a heavy emphasis on boosting U.S. innovation, building out data center infrastructure and promoting American technology abroad.
The 28-page AI Action Plan lays out the administration’s approach to the rapidly developing technology, putting forward more than 90 policy actions for “near-term execution” by the federal government.
“We believe we’re in an AI race,” White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks told reporters on a call Wednesday morning. “There’s a global competition now to lead on artificial intelligence, and we want the United States to win that race.”
“AI is a revolutionary technology that’s going to have profound ramifications for both the economy and for national security,” he continued. “So, it is very important that that American continue to be the dominant power in AI.”
The plan seeks to remove what the Trump administration deems as “onerous” regulations at both the federal and state level. This includes limiting funding to states over their AI rules, as well as tasking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with evaluating whether certain state AI regulations interfere with its mandate.
The framework also calls for a review of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) investigations launched under the Biden administration “to ensure that they do not advance theories of liability that unduly burden AI innovation.”
“We cannot afford to go down Europe’s innovation-killing regulatory path,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“Federal agencies will now review their rules on the books and repeal those that injure AI development and deployment across industries from financial services and agriculture to health and transportation,” he added, noting they will seek input from industry as well.
The AI Action Plan also directs the Commerce Department to revise an AI risk framework to remove references to misinformation, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and calls for an update to federal procurement guidelines limiting contracts to AI systems deemed “objective and free from top-down ideological bias.”
The framework separately focuses on boosting the development of AI data center and energy infrastructure. It seeks to provide data centers with wide-ranging exclusions from or permits for federal environment regulations, in addition to generally expediting permitting efforts.
It also calls for making federal land available to build data centers and the necessary power generation infrastructure.
The final key prong of the administration’s AI Action Plan is boosting the global adoption of American AI systems, including expanding efforts to export U.S. technology, countering Chinese influence in international AI governance and strengthening export controls.
“Having American AI models at the top of leaderboards won’t win the AI race alone,” Kratsios said. “Winning the race comes from those models being used by Americans and the rest of the world. American AI must be the gold standard.”
Updated at 11:52 a.m. EDT
