The Trump administration on Wednesday laid out the steps it plans to take to ensure “global AI dominance” for the US, with an AI Action Plan that calls for cutting regulations to speed up the development of artificial intelligence tools and the infrastructure to power them.
Critics said the plan is a handout to tech and fossil fuel companies, slashing rules that could protect consumers, prevent pollution and fight climate change.
Though the plan itself isn’t binding (it includes dozens of policy recommendations), Trump did sign three executive orders to put some of these steps into action. The changes and proposals follow how the Trump administration has approached AI and technology over the past six months — giving tech companies a largely free hand; focusing on beating China; and prioritizing the construction of data centers, factories and fossil fuel power plants over environmental regulations.
It’s seizing on the moment created by the arrival of ChatGPT less than three years ago and the ensuing wave of generative AI efforts by Google, Meta and others.
“My administration will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the United States can build and maintain the largest and most powerful and advanced AI infrastructure anywhere on the planet,” Trump said during remarks Wednesday evening at a summit presented by the Hill and Valley Forum and the All-In Podcast. He signed the three executive orders at the event.
The administration and tech industry groups touted the plan as a framework for US success in a race against China. “President Trump’s AI Action Plan presents a blueprint to usher in a new era of US AI dominance,” Jason Oxman, president and CEO of the tech industry trade group ITI, said in a statement.
Consumer groups said the plan focuses on deregulation and would hurt consumers by reducing the rules that could protect them.
“Whether it’s promoting the use of federal land for dirty data centers, giving the FTC orders to question past cases, or attempting to revive some version of the soundly defeated AI moratorium by tying federal funds to not having ‘onerous regulation’ according to the FCC, this is an unwelcome distraction at a critical time for government to get consumer protection right with increasing AI use and abuse,” Ben Winters, director of AI and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, said in a statement.
Here’s a look at the proposals in the plan.
Slashing regulations for AI infrastructure
The plan says AI growth will require infrastructure, including chip factories, data centers and more energy generation. And it blames environmental regulations for getting in the way. In response, it proposes exemptions for AI-related construction from certain environmental regulations, including those aimed at protecting clean water and air. It also suggests making federal lands available for data center construction and related power plants.
To provide energy for all those data centers, the plan calls for steps to prevent the “premature decommissioning of critical power generation resources.” This likely refers to keeping coal-fired power plants and other mostly fossil-fuel-driven infrastructure online for longer. In his remarks, Trump specifically touted his support for coal and nuclear power plants.
The administration also called to prioritize the connection of new “reliable, dispatchable power sources” to the grid and specifically named nuclear fission and fusion and advanced geothermal generation. Earlier this month, the president signed a bill that would end many tax credits and incentives for renewable energy — wind and solar — years earlier than planned. Wind and solar make up the bulk of the new energy generation being added to the US grid right now.
“This US AI Action Plan doesn’t just open the door for Big Tech and Big Oil to team up, it unhinges and removes any and all doors — it opens the floodgates, continuing to kneecap our communities’ rights to protect ourselves,” KD Chavez, executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance, said in a statement. “With tech and oil’s track records on human rights and their role in the climate crisis, and what they are already doing now to force AI dominance, we need more corporate and environmental oversight, not less.”
Fewer rules around AI technology
Congress ended up not including a moratorium on state AI rules in the recently passed tax and spending bill but efforts to cut regulations around AI continue from the executive branch in the action plan. “AI is far too important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stage, whether at the state or Federal level,” the plan says.
The plan recommends that several federal agencies review whether existing or proposed rules would interfere with the development and deployment of AI. The feds would consider whether states’ regulatory climate is favorable for AI when deciding to award funding. Federal Trade Commission investigations and orders would be reviewed to determine that they don’t “advance theories of liability that unduly burden AI innovation.”
Those rule changes could undermine efforts to protect consumers from problems caused by AI, critics said. “Companies — including AI companies — have a legal obligation to protect their products from being used for harm,” Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. “When a company makes design choices that increase the risk their product will be used for harm, or when the risks are particularly serious, companies should bear legal responsibility.”
Ideology and large language models
The plan proposes some steps around ensuring AI “protects free speech and American values,” further steps in the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back federal policies around what it refers to as “diversity, equity and inclusion,” along with references to the problems of misinformation and climate change. It calls for eliminating references to those items in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI Risk Management Framework. Federal agencies would only be allowed to contract with AI developers who “ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias.”
The Trump administration has recently announced contracts of up to $200 million each to developers Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI. Grok, the model from Elon Musk’s xAI, has recently come under fire for spouting antisemitism and hate speech.
Dealing with workforce challenges
The plan acknowledges that AI will “transform how work gets done across all industries and occupations, demanding a serious workforce response to help workers navigate that transition” and recommends actions by federal agencies including the Department of Labor intended to mitigate the harms of AI-driven job displacement. The plan calls for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis to monitor how AI affects the labor market using data already collected. An AI Workforce Research Hub under the Department of Labor would lead monitoring and issue policy recommendations.
Most of the actual plans to help workers displaced by AI involve retraining those workers for other jobs or to help states do the same.
Other jobs-related recommendations are aimed at boosting the kinds of jobs needed for all those data centers and chip manufacturing plants — like electricians and HVAC technicians.
These plans and others to encourage AI literacy and AI use in education drew praise from the Software & Information Industry Association, a tech industry trade group. “These are key components for building trust and ensuring all communities can participate in and benefit from AI’s potential,” Paul Lekas, SIIA’s senior vice president of global public policy, said in a statement.
More AI in government
The plan envisions more use of AI by the federal government. A talent exchange program would allow employees with experience or talent in AI to be detailed to other agencies in need. The General Services Administration would create a toolbox of AI models that would help agencies see models to choose from and use cases in other parts of the government.
Every government agency would also be required to ensure employees who could use AI in their jobs have access to and training for AI tools.
Many recommendations focus specifically on the Department of Defense, including creating a virtual proving ground for AI and autonomous systems. AI companies have already been signing contracts with the DOD to develop AI tools for the military.
