
David Sacks, the White Home ‘czar’ for synthetic intelligence coverage, speaks to President Trump as he indicators a collection of government orders within the Oval Workplace on Jan. 23, 2025.
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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos
President Trump got here into the White Home overturning dozens of actions taken by his predecessor.
However he discovered not less than one last-minute Joe Biden measure that he really needs to maintain: an government order that designates extra federal land for AI data centers.
“I might prefer to see federal lands opened up for knowledge facilities. I believe they’ll be crucial,” Trump stated, telling reporters it feels like one thing he would help.
It is a uncommon little bit of widespread floor between the 2 administrations, signaling the rising significance of synthetic intelligence. Biden known as it the “most consequential know-how of our time” in his farewell deal with.
Trump signed a brand new government order on Thursday that can kick off growth of an motion plan to “maintain and improve America’s AI dominance.” He was flanked by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur and podcaster whom Trump has named as his AI ‘czar.’
Earlier this week, Trump invited the CEOs from OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle to the White Home to announce what they stated may ultimately be a $500 billion funding in AI knowledge facilities in the USA – a venture they name Stargate.
Work on the venture was nicely underway in Texas earlier than Trump took workplace – however the enterprise leaders have been keen to offer Trump credit score for saying the funding.
“This monumental enterprise is a powerful declaration of confidence in America’s potential beneath a brand new president,” Trump stated. “We need to maintain it on this nation. China is a competitor and others are opponents… we’ve got to get these things constructed.”
However Trump would not love all of Biden’s work on AI
That does not imply Trump is taking over all of Biden’s work on AI priorities. On Day 1, Trump repealed Biden’s first AI executive order from October 2023, a sweeping measure that supplied some regulation on AI growth and testing, and touched on problems with fairness and discrimination within the know-how.
Alondra Nelson – who labored on AI coverage beneath the Biden administration and now serves as a fellow on the Middle for American Progress – says that call was short-sighted. She’s hoping for extra readability on the general imaginative and prescient on AI from the brand new White Home.
“It looks as if we’re struggling within the early days of the Trump administration to get to a spot the place we will take into consideration the AI ecosystem on a chess board and the bigger technique,” Nelson stated.
The Trump administration is anticipated to be extra hands-off with regulation of AI, stated John Villasenor of UCLA’s Institute for Expertise, Regulation and Coverage – however he stated it is nonetheless in its early days.
Villasenor expects the Trump administration’s method on AI to vary from what he known as a “fear-based” narrative from the Biden White Home, which centered on the dangers and stopping destructive outcomes from the know-how, much like how European nations are approaching AI.
There’s an added component of billionaire drama
Within the meantime, there’s already been battle over the one AI-related announcement that Trump did make.
On Tuesday, after the tech CEOs trumpeted their funding, Trump adviser Elon Musk criticized the announcement. Musk, the richest man on the planet, owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X.
“They do not even have the cash,” Musk posted on x.com. “SoftBank has nicely beneath $10B secured. I’ve that on good authority.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot again on the platform saying that was flawed.
On Thursday, Trump shrugged off the dispute, explaining that Musk and Altman simply do not get alongside. “I’ve sure hatreds of individuals, too,” Trump stated.
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