Trump’s AI Action Plan
President Trump is scheduled to announce his long-awaited AI action plan at his major address on Wednesday at an event called “Winning the AI Race” in Washington, D.C. According to an individual with knowledge of the subject, the high-level, 20-page document will concentrate on three key topics. It will take the form of a combination of grant programs and directives to government agencies. The individual stated, “It’s mostly carrots, not sticks.”
Pillar 1: Infrastructure— The first pillar of the action plan concerns AI infrastructure. The proposal highlights the significance of revising permitting laws to facilitate the construction of additional data centers. It will also emphasize the need to update the energy grid, including the addition of new sources of power.
Pillar 2: Innovation— Second, the action plan will argue that the United States needs to lead the world in innovation. It will focus on reducing red tape and reviving the concept of preventing states from regulating AI—albeit primarily as a symbolic gesture, given the White House’s limited capacity to instruct states what to do. It would also caution other nations not to jeopardize the capacity of US corporations to develop AI, according to the individual. This element of the strategy will also promote the creation of so-called “open-weights” AI models, which enable developers to download, alter, and run models locally.
Pillar 3: Global impact —The third pillar of the action plan will highlight the necessity of spreading American AI over the world, so that foreign countries do not become dependent on Chinese models or chips. Officials are concerned that DeepSeek and other recent Chinese models may become a valuable source of geopolitical influence if they are broadly adopted. As a result, part of the strategy will focus on ensuring that US allies and other nations across the world embrace American models instead.
