Trump Unveils Plan to Win AI 'Race' by Stripping Away Regulations

President Donald Trump released his long-awaited AI action plan on Wednesday, outlining steps to scale back regulations with the goal of establishing the U.S. 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 U.S., and establishing the U.S. 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 AI 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 Just hours after his inauguration, he rescinded an Executive Order Biden issued in 2023 aimed at establishing safety standards for AI’s development and use.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 U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation.” Later on Wednesday, Trump is expected to deliver remarks at an AI Summit at the White House and sign Executive Orders.