Trump administration releases AI Action Plan

The Trump administration released its “AI Action Plan” on July 23, which calls on America to win the “race to achieve global dominance in artificial intelligence (AI).” Winning this race, the plan states, will usher in “an industrial revolution, an information revolution and a renaissance – all at once.” To win the race and achieve these goals, the plan breaks down its proposals into three overarching “Pillars” – (1) the acceleration of innovation, (2) infrastructure, and (3) international diplomacy and security. Below, we point out the most impactful initiatives that are called for in each pillar.

Pillar One: Accelerate Innovation

• De-Regulation – A common theme throughout the AI Action Plan is the need to protect AI innovation from regulation. Part of this is the position that the federal government withholds AI-related federal funding for states with “burdensome AI regulations.” The AI Action Plan also calls on the FTC to not advance theories of liability that “unduly burden AI innovation.”
• Content Control – Orders the government to only procure AI systems that reflect the government’s definition of “truth.”
• Open Source and Open Weight Models – Instructs the government to potentially create a “financial market” for infrastructure and resources required to train, validate, and deploy AI models.
• AI Adoption – Instructs federal agencies to establish regulatory sandboxes and/or AI Centers of Excellence. Also prioritizes the collection of intelligence on foreign AI projects.
• Workforce – Acknowledges that AI may lead to worker displacement. Instructs the Department of Labor to launch pilot programs to retrain displaced workers.
• Datasets – Directs the creation of data quality standards for biological, materials science, chemical, physical, and other scientific data modalities.
• Protection of US AI Innovations – Instructs agencies to work together to protect AI innovations from security risks. It also directs the creation of a secure environment to train, validate, and deploy AI models on restricted Federal data.

Pillar Two: Build American AI Infrastructure

This pillar centers on creating a more efficient process for building data centers, semiconductor facilities, and energy infrastructure. There is also a discussion of the workforce required to assist in this buildout and how to promote those trades. One of the most interesting pieces of this pillar is a dedication to “secure-by-design,” but only as it applies to applications used in the national security context.

Pillar Three: Lead in International AI Diplomacy and Security

This pillar focuses on countering China in the AI realm. Specifically, there are discussions of ways to increase AI-related exports to allies, while starving China of the ability to further its compute abilities. It calls on agencies to study the current US frontier models for national security risks, as these are capabilities that China likely has or will have in the near future.

The AI Action Plan is a broad overview of how the Trump Administration views AI and how the Trump Administration intends to ensure that the US reaps the benefits of AI. As agencies within the federal government put this plan into action through rules, orders, and funding, companies should be aware of any changes those actions will bring to their business.

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