U.S. President Donald Trump intends to unveil an artificial intelligence plan (“Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan”) aimed at keeping the United States at the forefront of AI development. Toward that end, the president is expected to sign three new executive orders addressing data center development, financial resources, and perceived political bias.
- Accelerating Innovation: Focuses on increasing federal investment in AI research and development, fostering public-private partnerships, supporting commercialization of AI technologies, and promoting interoperability and open-source AI.
- Building American AI Infrastructure: Prioritizes establishing the foundational elements for AI development and deployment, including modernizing data center capacity, enhancing the power grid, and developing a skilled AI workforce.
- Leading in International Diplomacy and Security: Seeks to shape international AI standards and ensure the United States remains a leader in AI governance, including strengthening export control enforcement and collaborating with allies on AI security.
To learn more, we sought out Virginia Tech University’s Cayce Myers, who is well-versed on some the issues surrounding AI, for his analysis of the Trump administration’s AI strategy and its goals.
What might the Trump administration’s AI investments look like?
“The president’s recent visit to Pennsylvania, where he highlighted companies’ $92 billion investments to promote AI initiatives in the state, shows how the administration is positioning itself alongside tech leaders to make the U.S. the global leader in artificial intelligence. These investments including infrastructure such as hydroelectric dams and data centers underscore the perceived political and business stakes of the global AI competition between the U.S. and China.”
Does any part of the action plan suggest political aims?
“The Trump administration has fused AI development policy with other political issues, specifically around perceived political bias. Some news outlets have reported that the administration will release an executive order mandating that federal AI contractors’ AI outputs remain politically neutral and not produce results that may be perceived as promoting political viewpoints or engaging in ‘woke’ perspectives. Though controversial, this order falls in line with the position the administration has taken on issues of left-leaning political bias within technology and media writ large.”
What effects might this order have on the development of the technology?
“It likely will change the way some AI is developed, raising questions around how AI systems can guarantee certain types of biased outputs won’t be produced. This will also have a direct impact on the type of output generated for users of AI platforms that receive federal contracts. It also underscores how artificial intelligence chatbots and outputs are not viewed as apolitical technology but rather are framed as systems that are increasingly scrutinized for their own intentional or unintentional political perspectives.”