How the U.S. Is Shaping the Future of AI Innovation

AI&Future |

The White House recently released an artificial intelligence (AI) action plan, outlining dozens of federal policy actions the Trump administration will take. The 23-page document is seen as marking a fresh start for the US government's policy approach to this transformative technology.

On July 23, Trump signed several executive orders related to the plan, including those promoting the rapid construction of data centers and exporting US AI products.

To implement US policy on AI, the action plan establishes three pillars for advancing AI development: accelerating AI innovation, building US AI infrastructure, and leading international AI diplomacy and security.
The action plan demonstrates that, recognizing that breakthroughs in AI have the potential to reshape the global balance of power, spawn new industries, and fundamentally change the way we live and work, the United States needs to ensure it can develop and deploy new AI technologies across all sectors faster and more comprehensively than its competitors. To accelerate AI innovation, the action plan fully reflects the direction of easing regulatory measures on AI development and removing unnecessary obstacles that hinder its development. It proposes a number of measures, including eliminating red tape and harsh regulations, encouraging open source and open-source AI, promoting AI applications, especially accelerating AI applications in government departments, supporting next-generation manufacturing, building world-class scientific datasets, and investing in AI-driven scientific research.
  1. Deregulating the AI sector and removing administrative constraints and regulatory barriers to technological innovation
The Trump administration believes that regulatory costs and delays have severely constrained the United States' global competition in key technologies. It advocates creating an environment conducive to AI innovation by significantly easing regulations and accelerating the application of AI across various sectors and government departments. On January 23, 2025, during his first week in office, Trump re-signed Executive Order 14179, "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," proposing further revisions or repeals of regulations that hinder AI innovation and development, specifically removing the "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) and environmental regulations imposed on data center development during the Biden administration. The newly released Action Plan takes tougher measures, including requiring federal funding to be tied to states' regulatory laxity, limiting the flow of federal AI-related funds to states with burdensome AI regulations. This may mean a more relaxed, free, and less regulated domestic environment for AI development in the United States for some time to come.

  1. Emphasis on Computing Infrastructure Development and Vigorously Promote Data Center Construction
The Trump administration recognizes that without a strong energy and physical infrastructure, America's AI ambitions will remain futile. Therefore, it has significantly simplified environmental regulations and approval processes, which it views as obstacles to development, and is promoting data center construction at wartime speed, supplemented by fiscal incentives and land resources. On his second day in office, Trump announced the "Stargate" initiative, securing $500 billion in investment commitments from OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle. Under Trump's strong promotion, international investors and private companies have also participated in AI industry investment. Meta plans to invest $65 billion by 2025 to build massive new data centers; Microsoft will invest $40 billion in the United States to train AI models and deploy program centers; and Dubai real estate developer DAMAC Properties has pledged to invest in data centers in eight key states, including Texas and Ohio, to support innovation and employment in the United States. These investments aim to comprehensively upgrade the United States' AI infrastructure, form a powerful computing network, and consolidate the United States' technological leadership.
  1. Intensify the Industrial Development and Application of AI
The Trump administration recognizes that the bottleneck preventing the United States from fully realizing its potential lies in the limited and slow adoption of AI, particularly in key industries and large, established organizations. Therefore, it plans to accelerate the application of AI and foster a dynamic, "trial-before-use" culture within American industry. The Action Plan encourages the adoption of AI in various fields, including healthcare, energy, agriculture, defense, and science. It also establishes regulatory sandboxes or AI Centers of Excellence nationwide to accelerate the development and application of national standards for AI systems and measure the extent to which AI improves productivity in specific domains.
Regarding the military application of AI, Trump highlighted its importance to national security during his first term and initiated extensive investment in its military applications. This time, Trump reiterated his commitment to expanding AI adoption within the armed forces to safeguard the United States' global military advantage. The action plan proposes establishing a virtual testing ground for AI and autonomous systems and considers collaboration between the Department of Defense and the private sector, such as cloud service providers, to ensure full utilization of relevant resources and technologies during a major conflict. The plan also recommends developing top U.S. military academies into hubs for AI research, development, and talent cultivation. It urges the Department of Defense to collaborate with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to further refine its responsible AI and generative AI frameworks, roadmaps, and toolkits to ensure AI development aligns with U.S. national security objectives.
  1. Policy philosophies align strongly with the agenda of the tech right
Notably, Trump's AI policies are heavily influenced by the U.S. tech right. During his second term, Trump employed a revolving door system to recruit several tech giants into his team. For example, he appointed Scale AI General Manager Michael Kratsios as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, IBM Research Director Dalio Gill as Under Secretary of Energy for Science and Innovation, and entrepreneur and venture capitalist David O. Sacks as White House Director of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency. Sacks, who led the Trump administration's AI executive order and the drafting of the current action plan, has been dubbed the "AI Czar" by the media. Peter Thiel, the "godfather of Silicon Valley venture capital," is the founder of Palantir, which provides AI data analysis to the US Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. He has also been a key driver of Trump's push for the military application of AI and the export of the technology. Furthermore, Elon Musk, Sriram Krishnan, and others, acting as informal advisors, have exerted real influence on the Trump administration's AI policy agenda. This shows that during this administration, many entrepreneurs or technology leaders served as government officials or consultants, accelerating technological innovation while also promoting the deep integration of national policies and industries.

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