Inside Trump’s Bold AI Strategy: What You Didn’t Hear in the Headlines

Ambitious AI Vision from the White House

Since Donald Trump’s return to office, several executive orders and announcements have outlined an ambitious vision for America’s AI future. This includes outpacing China, eliminating "woke" AI models that suppress conservative speech, and accelerating the development of energy-intensive AI data centers. However, the details were scarce until the White House released its AI Action Plan last week.

Key Highlights of the AI Action Plan

The plan reiterates some well-known goals: boosting data center construction by reducing environmental regulations, withholding funds from states that pass restrictive AI laws, and contracting only with AI companies whose models are free from ideological bias.

Increasing Pressure on the Federal Trade Commission

The plan signals an escalation in the Trump administration’s conflict with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC, under President Biden, has targeted AI firms that exaggerated their systems’ accuracy or caused consumer harm. Trump’s plan proposes reviewing and potentially repealing these FTC actions to remove what it calls "onerous" regulations that hinder AI development. This move could significantly weaken a key AI regulatory body.

Optimism About AI’s Role in Scientific Discovery

The plan expresses strong optimism about AI’s potential to revolutionize science, from discovering new materials and drugs to decoding ancient scrolls. While some advances, like AI predicting protein structures, have proven successful, the expectations for large language models to act as independent scientists remain ambitious. Despite cuts in funding for human scientists, the administration pledges to support labs working towards these AI breakthroughs, including initiatives for more transparent and interpretable AI systems.

Mixed Messages on Deepfakes and AI Safety

Unlike President Biden’s AI orders, Trump’s plan largely omits AI safety measures but addresses deepfakes specifically. It references recent bipartisan legislation protecting against nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes and raises concerns about deepfakes potentially undermining the legal system. The plan calls for standards on deepfake detection and DOJ rules. However, it overlooks other AI-related legal risks, such as AI-generated erroneous legal citations. Notably, shortly before releasing the plan, Trump shared a fake AI-generated video of Barack Obama, highlighting the complexities in his administration’s stance.

AI as a Political and Cultural Weapon

The AI Action Plan underscores the Trump administration’s view of AI as a pivotal tool in culture wars and geopolitical conflicts. They see AI as essential to defeating China and purging ideological bias from technology. While the plan includes popular measures like addressing deepfakes, it largely avoids challenging major tech companies’ power, reflecting their growing influence and close ties with the administration.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter.