Trump Overturns Biden's AI Safeguards, Calls for 'Ideologically Unbiased' Development

Trump Executive Order Calls for AI Development 'Free From Ideological Bias'

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on artificial intelligence Thursday that will revoke past government policies his order says "act as barriers to American AI innovation." To maintain global leadership in AI technology, "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," Trump's order says. The new order doesn't name which existing policies are hindering AI development but sets out to track down and review "all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions taken" as a result of former President Joe Biden's sweeping AI executive order of 2023, which Trump rescinded Monday. Any of those Biden-era actions must be suspended if they don't fit Trump's new directive that AI should "promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security." Read More: 5 Predictions for AI in 2025 Last year, the Biden administration issued a policy directive that said U.S. federal agencies must show their artificial intelligence tools aren't harming the public, or stop using them. Trump's order directs the White House to revise and reissue those directives, which affect how agencies acquire AI tools and use them. Biden's executive order, the Trump administration said, "established unnecessarily burdensome requirements for companies developing and deploying AI that would stifle private sector innovation and threaten American technological leadership." Trump's order also calls for the development of an AI action plan within 180 days. Leading the work will be a small group of White House tech and science officials, including a new Special Advisor for AI and Crypto -- a role Trump has given to venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks. Trump repealed Biden's 2023 guardrails for fast-developing AI technology just hours after returning to the White House on Monday. Read More: Breaking Down All of Trump's Day 1 Presidential Actions The new actions threaten to erase some of the Biden administration's efforts -- championed by then-Vice President Kamala Harris -- to curb government use of the kinds of AI tools that have been found to unfairly discriminate based on race, gender or disability, from medical diagnosis chatbots spouting false information to face recognition technology tied to wrongful arrests of Black men. Until Thursday, it wasn't clear if Trump planned to replace Biden's signature AI policy with his own order. Trump had also signed executive orders on AI in his previous term, including a 2019 order directing federal agencies to prioritize research and development in AI that is still on the books. Alondra Nelson, former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under Biden, said Trump's order seemed "backward looking" because agencies would be tasked with reviewing initiatives "that are already helping people, with an implicit intent to unwind them." The Biden administration's AI policies, she added, were aimed at protecting both innovation and the public. "In 60 days, we'll know which Americans' rights and safety the Trump Administration believes deserves to be protected in the age of AI, and if there will be a level playing field for every technologist, developer, and innovator or just the tech billionaires," Nelson said. Much of Biden's 2023 order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study AI's impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits, with an eye on ensuring AI tools weren't harming people. That work is largely done. One major piece that remained -- until Trump rescinded it Monday -- was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public. The Trump order's focus on "human flourishing" echoes the language of his campaign's long-held promise to cancel Biden's AI policy once back in the White House. It's also in line with ideas espoused by Trump adviser Elon Musk, who has warned against the dangers of what he calls "woke AI" that reflects liberal biases. In a statement, Americans for Responsible Innovation, a nonprofit organization, said Trump has "made it clear from day one that his top priority on AI is out-innovating the rest of the world." Read More: What to Know About 'Stargate,' OpenAI's New Venture Announced by President Trump "Today's executive order is a placeholder until the administration has a chance to develop a full strategy for executing that vision," said the organization's executive director, Eric Gastfriend. Agencies had already frozen work on AI policies initiated by the last administration following Trump's repeal of Biden's executive order on Monday, Gastfriend said. "This new instruction shouldn't come as a surprise," he said.

Donald Trump Signs Order Calling for AI 'Free From Ideological Bias': How This May Impact AI Safety

The President claims revoking these hurdles will ensure America prioritizes innovation, but some experts fear it could impact the safety of AI development. The new order calls for the deployment of an in-depth AI action plan within 180 days, stating that "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas." Trump said he would reverse the previous government's policies that "act as barriers to American AI innovation." According to the order, the Trump Administration will track down and review all previous AI actions and directives made by the Biden administration. If any AI policies are found to be hindering innovation, they should be reviewed and revoked. The executive order said AI should "promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security." A Removal of Biden's AI Guardrails During Biden's presidency, he issued numerous directives aimed at promoting safety in the rapid development of AI. A key highlight of Biden's directives was the 2023 Executive Order on AI, which required developers of AI systems deemed high-risk -- such as those with implications for national security -- to conduct rigorous safety assessments. These assessments then had to be shared with the U.S. government before deployment. The goal was to prevent potential harm from unchecked AI advancements, particularly in areas like misinformation and surveillance. Trump revoked these orders just hours into being sworn in as President on Monday, living up to his promises during his campaign trail. "We will repeal Joe Biden's dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology," Trump's manifesto read. "In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing," it added. Upon revoking the guardrails, the Trump administration said they had "established unnecessarily burdensome requirements for companies developing and deploying AI that would stifle private sector innovation and threaten American technological leadership." How Could This Impact AI Safety? Trump's new light-touch approach to AI marks a significant turn for the U.S. and an unprecedented move globally. Two years ago, Tesla boss Elon Musk, the President's newest biggest ally, called for a 6-month pause in AI development. Teaming up with computer scientists and other tech leaders, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Musk signed a petition calling for a break to assess AI's risks. Biden's regulations, which came around the same time as Musk's petition, were designed to mitigate potential harms by ensuring thorough evaluation and oversight of AI technologies. Now, by reversing AI directives, Trump's order has removed key precautionary measures on AI development. While the decrease in regulatory hurdles is likely to accelerate the development of AI systems, it could come at the cost of cautious oversight.

Trump signs new executive order on AI development, overturning Biden-era restrictions - SiliconANGLE

Trump signs new executive order on AI development, overturning Biden-era restrictions U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for the development of artificial intelligence systems that are "free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas" in his latest executive order. The order, signed earlier today, is an effort to repeal previous U.S. government policies that some have interpreted as "barriers to American AI innovation". Its chief aim is to overturn many of the policies, orders, regulations and directives that were initiated under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, who signed his own executive order regarding AI in 2023. Trump rescinded Biden's order, which contained a number of guardrails that U.S. companies were required to follow, on Monday, his first day in office. His action overruled a previous requirement that U.S. tech firms building the most powerful AI models should share details of those systems with the government before releasing them publicly. The new directive states that any of the actions resulting from Biden's order must be suspended if they don't fit with the new President's own vision of AI development that promotes "human flourishing, economic competitiveness and national security." Biden's 2023 order initiated a number of White House-led studies on AI's impact on various sectors of U.S. society, including workplaces, education, public benefits and cybersecurity risks, with a focus on ensuring that the technology doesn't harm people. However, Biden himself never built on those studies, and so Trump's order is calling for the development of a new AI action plan to be created within just 180 days. That task will fall to a team led by Trump's new Special Advisor for AI and Crypto David Sacks, who formerly worked as a venture capitalist and an executive for PayPal Holdings Inc. During his election campaign, Trump vowed to overturn Biden's AI policy the moment he returned to the White House, and his new order appears to make good on that promise. At the same time, it also echoes ideas promoted by Trump's favorite tech advisor Elon Musk, who has previously warned against AI that contains liberal biases, terming it "woke AI". The nonprofit organization Americans for Responsible Innovation appeared supportive of Trump's move, saying in a statement that the President has made it clear that AI is one of his top priorities, and that he wants to see the U.S. "out-innovating" its global rivals. "Today's executive order is a placeholder until the administration has a chance to develop a full strategy for executing that vision," Eric Gastfriend, ARI's executive director, told the Associated Press.

Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Woke AI

"To maintain this leadership, we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," the new AI order reads. "With the right Government policies, we can solidify our position as the global leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans." Titled "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," this new order follows after Trump revoked the Biden Administration's 2023 AI safety order, which was intended to make sure these systems don't harm national security or humanity itself. Revoking that order as one of his first acts as president sent a clear signal that Trump is following along with the GOP's 2024 party platform that supported "AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing," as opposed to the prior administration's insistence on countering "irresponsible use [that] could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation." Now we're getting a taste of what that looks like in practice: Trump's sweeping action against anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that's already started a purge within the government will be a key component of his AI policy, too. This order's mentions of ideology in AI also seem like they could have been inspired by Trump advisor Elon Musk, whose own "anti-woke" chatbot was built under a similar directive. Anyone who's used Musk's "Grok" chatbot knows, of course, that it's failed spectacularly at its "anti-woke" aims -- so much so that it actually appeared to endorse Trump's rival in the election, Kamala Harris. Were things going well between the billionaire pair, it seems highly plausible that Musk would take credit for pushing his anti-woke AI agenda onto the president. Given that he just ticked off a bunch of his fellow flunkies for criticizing Trump's $500 billion AI investment deal, however, he's doing no such thing. Hilariously, Trump dismissed his advisor's trash-talking by noting that Musk "hates one of the people in the deal" -- a snide reference to Musk's antipathy toward OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who started that company with the South African-born businessman nine years ago before the two had a severe falling out. While there's no telling who -- or what -- is actually writing these rapidly-released executive orders, Trump's devil-may-care attitude about Musk's criticisms could be why he's chosen to include language that seems inspired by the advisor's own pet projects -- or maybe they just all hate "woke."

Trump rescinds Biden's executive order on AI safety in attempt to diverge from his predecessor

Hours after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump made a symbolic mark on the future of artificial intelligence by repealing former President Joe Biden's guardrails for the fast-developing technology. But what comes next from Trump and how it will diverge from how his predecessor sought to safeguard AI technology remains unclear. The new administration didn't respond to requests for comment about the repealed Biden policy and even some of Trump's most enthusiastic tech industry supporters aren't so sure. "I think that the previous order had a lot in it," said Alexandr Wang, the CEO of AI company Scale, describing Biden's 2023 executive order on AI as overly lengthy but declining to name what about it was harmful. "It's hard to comment on each individual piece of it. There's certainly some parts of it that we strongly agree with." Wang, who traveled to Washington to attend Trump's inaugural festivities, is also optimistic that better things are yet to come. He and other Silicon Valley leaders who previously worked with the Biden administration have embraced Trump and hope to guide his approach toward one with fewer restrictions. In its early days, Trump's team has already "set the tone for a very productive administration with a lot of deep collaboration between industry and government," Wang said. Much of Biden's order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits. That work is done. "The reports have been written and the recommendations generated, and they're available for everyone to build on," said Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology. "The executive order's work is completed, whether or not it's rescinded." Those reports are helping to inform the private sector as well as federal agencies and state governments, she said. Not only that, but much of the standard-setting established by Biden's order followed the path of earlier AI executive orders signed by Trump in his first term that carried over into the Biden administration. "If you look past the kind of political positioning on this, the Biden executive order built upon themes that were established in the first Trump administration and have been reiterated by bipartisan voices in Congress," she said. One key provision of Biden's AI order that was still in effect until Monday was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public. In many ways, 2023 was a different time in the AI discourse. ChatGPT was a novelty and Elon Musk -- long before he became a close adviser to Trump -- had called for a moratorium on advanced AI development. Biden's own worries were amplified after watching the Tom Cruise film "Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One" in which the world is threatened by a sentient and rogue machine, according to his then-deputy chief of staff. The executive order followed public commitments to the Biden administration from tech companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI welcoming third-party oversight. But the order went further in invoking the Defense Production Act, which dates from the Korean War, to compel companies to share safety test results and other information if their AI systems met a certain threshold. Little is known publicly about how those confidential exchanges worked in practice, but the government scrutiny was heavily criticized last year by some Trump backers such as the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who also sits on the board of Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Andreessen said over the summer that he was concerned with "the idea that we're going to deliberately hamstring ourselves through onerous regulations while the rest of the world lights up on this, and while China lights up on this." Trump is following through with a campaign promise to rescind Biden's AI order. His campaign platform described it as hindering AI innovation and imposing "Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology," tying it to broader concerns from Musk and other Trump allies about "woke AI" chatbots reflecting liberal biases. But the Biden order itself didn't restrict free speech. Some provisions sought standards for the watermarking of AI-generated content, part of a strategy to reduce the dangers of impersonation and abusive sexual deepfake imagery. The order also directed multiple federal agencies to guard against potential harms of AI applications, warning against irresponsible uses that "reproduced and intensified existing inequities, caused new types of harmful discrimination, and exacerbated online and physical harms." One former White House science adviser who helped craft Biden's rights-based AI approach described Trump's action as a "politically motivated repeal with no thoughtful replacement." Trump's move signals that he is "less supportive than the Biden administration of issues around privacy, around people's civil liberties and civil rights and just concerns around safety more broadly with regards to advanced systems," said Alondra Nelson, the former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Addressing those concerns is important for people to adopt the AI tools that businesses are developing, added Nelson, now a fellow at the Center for American Progress. "Americans have some of the highest rates of mistrust of AI in the developed world," she said, citing surveys. Some of Biden's AI moves are still in place, at least for now, such as a year-old AI Safety Institute focused on national security. Trump also hasn't yet weighed in on Biden's bigger conflict with the tech industry -- pending rules restricting AI chip exports to more than 100 countries in an effort to counter China's backdoor access to them in places such as the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia. Nor has Trump repealed Biden's most recent AI executive order -- a week-old action that seeks to remove hurdles for AI data center expansion in the U.S. while also encouraging those data centers to be powered with renewable energy. Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for AI data centers and electricity infrastructure to power them, through a new partnership called Stargate formed by ChatGPT maker OpenAI along with Oracle and SoftBank. At a press conference, he didn't seem familiar with Biden's latest AI order but said he wouldn't rescind it. "That sounds to me like it's something that I would like," Trump said. "I'd like to see federal lands opened up for data centers. I think they're going to be very important." -- -- AP writer Joshua Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Trump rescinds Biden's executive order on AI safety in attempt to diverge from his predecessor

Hours after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump made a symbolic mark on the future of artificial intelligence by repealing former President Joe Biden's guardrails for the fast-developing technology Hours after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump made a symbolic mark on the future of artificial intelligence by repealing former President Joe Biden's guardrails for the fast-developing technology. But what comes next from Trump and how it will diverge from how his predecessor sought to safeguard AI technology remains unclear. The new administration didn't respond to requests for comment about the repealed Biden policy and even some of Trump's most enthusiastic tech industry supporters aren't so sure. "I think that the previous order had a lot in it," said Alexandr Wang, the CEO of AI company Scale, describing Biden's 2023 executive order on AI as overly lengthy but declining to name what about it was harmful. "It's hard to comment on each individual piece of it. There's certainly some parts of it that we strongly agree with." Wang, who traveled to Washington to attend Trump's inaugural festivities, is also optimistic that better things are yet to come. He and other Silicon Valley leaders who previously worked with the Biden administration have embraced Trump and hope to guide his approach toward one with fewer restrictions. In its early days, Trump's team has already "set the tone for a very productive administration with a lot of deep collaboration between industry and government," Wang said. Much of Biden's order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits. That work is done. "The reports have been written and the recommendations generated, and they're available for everyone to build on," said Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology. "The executive order's work is completed, whether or not it's rescinded." Those reports are helping to inform the private sector as well as federal agencies and state governments, she said. Not only that, but much of the standard-setting established by Biden's order followed the path of earlier AI executive orders signed by Trump in his first term that carried over into the Biden administration. "If you look past the kind of political positioning on this, the Biden executive order built upon themes that were established in the first Trump administration and have been reiterated by bipartisan voices in Congress," she said. One key provision of Biden's AI order that was still in effect until Monday was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public. In many ways, 2023 was a different time in the AI discourse. ChatGPT was a novelty and Elon Musk -- long before he became a close adviser to Trump -- had called for a moratorium on advanced AI development. Biden's own worries were amplified after watching the Tom Cruise film "Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One" in which the world is threatened by a sentient and rogue machine, according to his then-deputy chief of staff. The executive order followed public commitments to the Biden administration from tech companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI welcoming third-party oversight. But the order went further in invoking the Defense Production Act, which dates from the Korean War, to compel companies to share safety test results and other information if their AI systems met a certain threshold. Little is known publicly about how those confidential exchanges worked in practice, but the government scrutiny was heavily criticized last year by some Trump backers such as the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who also sits on the board of Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Andreessen said over the summer that he was concerned with "the idea that we're going to deliberately hamstring ourselves through onerous regulations while the rest of the world lights up on this, and while China lights up on this." Trump is following through with a campaign promise to rescind Biden's AI order. His campaign platform described it as hindering AI innovation and imposing "Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology," tying it to broader concerns from Musk and other Trump allies about "woke AI" chatbots reflecting liberal biases. But the Biden order itself didn't restrict free speech. Some provisions sought standards for the watermarking of AI-generated content, part of a strategy to reduce the dangers of impersonation and abusive sexual deepfake imagery. The order also directed multiple federal agencies to guard against potential harms of AI applications, warning against irresponsible uses that "reproduced and intensified existing inequities, caused new types of harmful discrimination, and exacerbated online and physical harms." One former White House science adviser who helped craft Biden's rights-based AI approach described Trump's action as a "politically motivated repeal with no thoughtful replacement." Trump's move signals that he is "less supportive than the Biden administration of issues around privacy, around people's civil liberties and civil rights and just concerns around safety more broadly with regards to advanced systems," said Alondra Nelson, the former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Addressing those concerns is important for people to adopt the AI tools that businesses are developing, added Nelson, now a fellow at the Center for American Progress. "Americans have some of the highest rates of mistrust of AI in the developed world," she said, citing surveys. Some of Biden's AI moves are still in place, at least for now, such as a year-old AI Safety Institute focused on national security. Trump also hasn't yet weighed in on Biden's bigger conflict with the tech industry -- pending rules restricting AI chip exports to more than 100 countries in an effort to counter China's backdoor access to them in places such as the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia. Nor has Trump repealed Biden's most recent AI executive order -- a week-old action that seeks to remove hurdles for AI data center expansion in the U.S. while also encouraging those data centers to be powered with renewable energy. Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for AI data centers and electricity infrastructure to power them, through a new partnership called Stargate formed by ChatGPT maker OpenAI along with Oracle and SoftBank. At a press conference, he didn't seem familiar with Biden's latest AI order but said he wouldn't rescind it. "That sounds to me like it's something that I would like," Trump said. "I'd like to see federal lands opened up for data centers. I think they're going to be very important." -- -- AP writer Joshua Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Trump Pushes to Make US an AI Superpower, With Fewer Guardrails

Over the past two years, the Biden administration struck a careful balance on artificial intelligence. The White House took steps to ensure the US stayed ahead of China in developing the technology while also trying to address some of AI's many potential risks. In his first 24 hours back in Washington, Donald Trump sent a different message to the AI community: Just build. On Monday, Trump rescinded Biden's sweeping executive order on AI. The move immediately halted the implementation of key safety and transparency requirements for AI developers. It also raises doubts about the future of the US AI Safety Institute, which is tasked with creating best practices for the technology's use. Trump is expected to issue a new executive order on AI, but with a lighter touch. On Tuesday, Trump will appear at an event with tech executives to announce a new $100 billion AI spending spree led by SoftBank Group Corp., OpenAI and Oracle Corp, with a focus on physical infrastructure. And on the eve of taking office, Trump said that he would pave the way for "people with a lot of money" to invest in so-called "AI plants" to power data centers for artificial intelligence -- with little concern for whether those energy sources are good or bad for the environment. With these early efforts, Trump is not only rethinking the US approach to AI but also moving further from Europe, setting up a clash of continents over how best to regulate AI and compete with China. The EU previously unnerved some leading AI companies by enacting tougher tech legislation on privacy and safety. By comparison, the Trump team has brought in prominent tech figures, including billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, to help shape its tech and AI policies. A warm reception at Davos "It seems clear that the new administration is going to be encouraging of tech and tech growth," Demis Hassabis, chief executive officer of Google DeepMind, said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Tuesday. "The administration is getting advice from the people who really understand what's happening at the cutting edge." Hassabis was one of many tech leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos who sounded cautiously optimistic about the early days of Trump's second term and its implications for AI development. OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told Bloomberg News that the Trump administration has already shown "a real willingness to lean in" and "be very on the economic front foot" when it comes to technology and AI. Likewise, Alphabet Inc. President Ruth Porat said Trump's team wants to "clear away some of the impediments to investing" in data centers and other infrastructure needed for AI. "There is a tremendous amount of opportunity to continue working with them," Porat said. Less focus on clean energy In recent months, OpenAI and other companies urged the Biden administration to pave the way for unprecedented investments in data centers and energy sources. OpenAI, in particular, called for massive 5 gigawatt data centers -- large enough to power entire cities. Last week, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to lease government land for AI data centers, emphasizing the use of clean energy sources. This order was not on the list that Trump rescinded on Monday, but Trump is likely to relax the clean energy requirements, said Joseph Majkut, director of the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. After touting future AI investment at a rally over the weekend, Trump said his administration would cut the "environmental regulations that are really put in there in order to stop progress in this country." If so, the Trump administration may put the onus on tech companies to decide their own comfort level with relying more on fossil fuels. In the race to build more power-hungry data centers for AI, Microsoft Corp. and Google have already seen their ambitious climate pledges slip out of reach. "The key issues to watch are the extent to which the hyper-scaling companies are comfortable with powering new data centers with high-emission power because they have their own climate goals and their own reputation to maintain," Majkut said. Competing with China For the Trump administration, and possibly many in the AI industry, climate and safety concerns rank behind a fear of being outcompeted by China. At Davos, Alphabet's Porat said it's not "a foregone conclusion" that the US will maintain a lead over China in developing more sophisticated AI systems. Meanwhile, OpenAI's Friar said China is "absolutely investing in this area" and understands how critical AI is to their economy and security. "We should not be naive on that front," she said.

Trump Rescinds Biden's Executive Order on AI Safety in Attempt to Diverge From His Predecessor

Hours after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump made a symbolic mark on the future of artificial intelligence by repealing former President Joe Biden's guardrails for the fast-developing technology. But what comes next from Trump and how it will diverge from how his predecessor sought to safeguard AI technology remains unclear. The new administration didn't respond to requests for comment about the repealed Biden policy and even some of Trump's most enthusiastic tech industry supporters aren't so sure. "I think that the previous order had a lot in it," said Alexandr Wang, the CEO of AI company Scale, describing Biden's 2023 executive order on AI as overly lengthy but declining to name what about it was harmful. "It's hard to comment on each individual piece of it. There's certainly some parts of it that we strongly agree with." Wang, who traveled to Washington to attend Trump's inaugural festivities, is also optimistic that better things are yet to come. He and other Silicon Valley leaders who previously worked with the Biden administration have embraced Trump and hope to guide his approach toward one with fewer restrictions. In its early days, Trump's team has already "set the tone for a very productive administration with a lot of deep collaboration between industry and government," Wang said. Not much left to repeal? Much of Biden's order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits. That work is done. "The reports have been written and the recommendations generated, and they're available for everyone to build on," said Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology. "The executive order's work is completed, whether or not it's rescinded." Those reports are helping to inform the private sector as well as federal agencies and state governments, she said. Not only that, but much of the standard-setting established by Biden's order followed the path of earlier AI executive orders signed by Trump in his first term that carried over into the Biden administration. "If you look past the kind of political positioning on this, the Biden executive order built upon themes that were established in the first Trump administration and have been reiterated by bipartisan voices in Congress," she said. Regulating powerful AI One key provision of Biden's AI order that was still in effect until Monday was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public. In many ways, 2023 was a different time in the AI discourse. ChatGPT was a novelty and Elon Musk -- long before he became a close adviser to Trump -- had called for a moratorium on advanced AI development. Biden's own worries were amplified after watching the Tom Cruise film "Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One" in which the world is threatened by a sentient and rogue machine, according to his then-deputy chief of staff. The executive order followed public commitments to the Biden administration from tech companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI welcoming third-party oversight. But the order went further in invoking the Defense Production Act, which dates from the Korean War, to compel companies to share safety test results and other information if their AI systems met a certain threshold. Little is known publicly about how those confidential exchanges worked in practice, but the government scrutiny was heavily criticized last year by some Trump backers such as the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who also sits on the board of Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Andreessen said over the summer that he was concerned with "the idea that we're going to deliberately hamstring ourselves through onerous regulations while the rest of the world lights up on this, and while China lights up on this." Ideological differences on AI Trump is following through with a campaign promise to rescind Biden's AI order. His campaign platform described it as hindering AI innovation and imposing "Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology," tying it to broader concerns from Musk and other Trump allies about "woke AI" chatbots reflecting liberal biases. But the Biden order itself didn't restrict free speech. Some provisions sought standards for the watermarking of AI-generated content, part of a strategy to reduce the dangers of impersonation and abusive sexual deepfake imagery. The order also directed multiple federal agencies to guard against potential harms of AI applications, warning against irresponsible uses that "reproduced and intensified existing inequities, caused new types of harmful discrimination, and exacerbated online and physical harms." One former White House science adviser who helped craft Biden's rights-based AI approach described Trump's action as a "politically motivated repeal with no thoughtful replacement." Trump's move signals that he is "less supportive than the Biden administration of issues around privacy, around people's civil liberties and civil rights and just concerns around safety more broadly with regards to advanced systems," said Alondra Nelson, the former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Addressing those concerns is important for people to adopt the AI tools that businesses are developing, added Nelson, now a fellow at the Center for American Progress. "Americans have some of the highest rates of mistrust of AI in the developed world," she said, citing surveys. Pivot to AI common ground Some of Biden's AI moves are still in place, at least for now, such as a year-old AI Safety Institute focused on national security. Trump also hasn't yet weighed in on Biden's bigger conflict with the tech industry -- pending rules restricting AI chip exports to more than 100 countries in an effort to counter China's backdoor access to them in places such as the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia. Nor has Trump repealed Biden's most recent AI executive order -- a week-old action that seeks to remove hurdles for AI data center expansion in the U.S. while also encouraging those data centers to be powered with renewable energy. Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for AI data centers and electricity infrastructure to power them, through a new partnership called Stargate formed by ChatGPT maker OpenAI along with Oracle and SoftBank. At a press conference, he didn't seem familiar with Biden's latest AI order but said he wouldn't rescind it. "That sounds to me like it's something that I would like," Trump said. "I'd like to see federal lands opened up for data centers. I think they're going to be very important." -- -- AP writer Joshua Boak in Washington contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Trump Dumps Biden AI Safety Order That Microsoft Dubbed 'Critical'

Newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump has rescinded a slew of executive orders from former President Joe Biden within hours of taking office on Monday -- including one intended to ensure safe, secure, and trustworthy AI. This isn't exactly a surprise, however, as Trump made rolling back AI regulation part of his campaign. The Biden Order, called the "Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence," was published in October 2023. It acknowledged that AI presents both "promise and peril" for society, with the potential to "exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias," as well as disinformation and other concerns. The action prioritized American workers and demanded that no workers or jobs are harmed because of AI. It also included other protections to promote a fair and open AI marketplace, protect individuals' personal information in the AI era, and included other measures to promote equitable AI. The link to the Order now leads to a 404 error message, meaning the page has been since taken down. Trump's announcement rescinding the AI order came alongside about 75 other rescinded orders and actions, including killing actions made as recent as Jan. 16. Trump's announcement claims that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which the AI order partly addresses, have "corrupted" US institutions by "replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy." "We will repeal Joe Biden's dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology," the Republican Party promised in July last year, adding: "In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing." The decision to ditch Biden's order doesn't mean Trump doesn't believe AI comes with risks, however, as Trump previously called AI a "superpower" with "alarming" potential. When Biden's AI Order was established, half a dozen US politicians applauded the measure alongside industry executives at the time including Microsoft President Brad Smith, who called it a "critical step forward in the governance of AI technology" (In October, Microsoft founder Bill Gates quietly supported Kamala Harris for president with a $50 million donation). Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer at Google parent company Alphabet, also commented on the order back in 2023, stating: "We're reviewing today's Executive Order, and we are confident that our long-standing AI responsibility practices will align with its principles. We'll continue working together to maximize AI's potential for good." Executives from Adobe and Box, as well as some union and labor leaders, also praised the now-rescinded AI order. The US has little regulation around AI compared to other regions like the EU. In March last year, the European Union's AI Act was passed into law, establishing a ban around biometric data use and guardrails around other invasive AI applications. But some, like venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, have argued that a lack of AI regulation in the US is good. Trump, like Biden, sees AI as a key area of competition with other nations like China. In Biden's last week, his administration announced a regulatory framework for advanced AI and also expanded restrictions on the export of certain chips and hardware for running AI models to US-designated countries of concern, including China.

President Trump Rescinds Joe Biden's AI Oversight Order, Signals Shift Toward Deregulation

However, Republicans criticized it for promoting liberal ideology while offering no protections for free speech. Following through on a campaign promise, Donald Trump has revoked Joe Biden's executive order on AI safety. At the dawn of a presidency that is expected to enact an aggressive deregulatory agenda, the move signals Trump's intention to boost the American AI industry by cutting red tape and loosening restrictions. Walking Back AI Safety Mandates Issued in October 2024, Biden's "Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence" was meant to usher in a new era of federal AI regulation. The order set out the White House's AI policy goals and required federal agencies to act according to these principles. Upon publication, Biden's Executive Order was criticized by many in the AI industry, who feared it would increase their regulatory burden and stifle innovation. Without a mandate to ensure safe and secure AI development, federal agencies are likely to step back from regulating the technology under Trump. Individual states may still pick up the slack with their own AI safety frameworks. But Trump and the Republican party have signaled their support for a laissez-faire approach from Washington. The Politics of AI Regulation Although short on specifics, Biden's Executive Order was imbued with the kind of emphases prioritized by Democrats. While it called for "appropriate safeguards against fraud, unintended bias, discrimination, infringements on privacy, and other harms from AI," it made no mention of free speech protections. This prompted pushback from Republicans, who argued the order imposed "radical leftwing ideas" on the industry and called for AI development "rooted in free speech and human flourishing." Republicans' focus on freedom of expression chimes with Trump's use of AI during the 2024 election campaign when he frequently shared unlabelled deepfakes that critics have condemned as misinformation. More broadly, the notion that moderation of online discourse impinges on First Amendment rights forms a central pillar of the MAGA ideology. From this perspective, the previous administration's efforts to curb AI-generated misinformation are continuous with its alleged censorship of conservative viewpoints. Trump's AI Policy Besides repealing Biden-era regulations, Trump's plans to support the American AI industry center on energy and tax policy. On his first day in office, the president declared a national energy emergency, enabling him to fast-track new infrastructure projects that could significantly boost power-hungry AI training outfits. Another executive order reportedly being considered would kickstart a series of "Manhattan Projects" to advance military AI capabilities. Finally, the new administration's plan to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts could free up capital for technology firms to invest in research and development, helping to spur further AI innovation.

Trump Signs Executive Order on Developing Artificial Intelligence 'Free From Ideological Bias'

AP Technology Writers (AP) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on artificial intelligence Thursday that will revoke past government policies his order says "act as barriers to American AI innovation." To maintain global leadership in AI technology, "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," Trump's order says. The new order doesn't name which existing policies are hindering AI development but sets out to track down and review "all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions taken" as a result of former President Joe Biden's sweeping AI executive order of 2023. Any of those Biden-era actions must be suspended if they don't fit Trump's new directive that AI should "promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security." It also calls for the development of an AI action plan within 180 days. Just hours after returning to the White House on Monday, Trump repealed former President Joe Biden's 2023 guardrails for fast-developing AI technology. Until Thursday, it wasn't clear if Trump planned to replace Biden's signature AI policy with his own order. Trump had also signed executive orders on AI in his previous term, which are still on the books. Much of Biden's 2023 order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits, with an eye on ensuring AI tools weren't harming people. That work is done. One major piece that remained -- until Trump rescinded it Monday -- was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Trump has tossed a lot of Biden policies. But there's one AI measure he wants to keep

How Memphis became a battleground over Elon Musk's xAI supercomputer But he found at least one last-minute Joe Biden measure that he actually wants to keep: an executive order that designates more federal land for AI data centers. "I'd like to see federal lands opened up for data centers. I think they're going to be very important," Trump said, telling reporters it sounds like something he would support. It's a rare bit of common ground between the two administrations, signaling the growing importance of artificial intelligence. Biden called it the "most consequential technology of our time" in his farewell address. Trump signed a new executive order on Thursday that will kick off development of an action plan to "sustain and enhance 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 House to announce what they said could eventually be a $500 billion investment in AI data centers in the United States - a project they call Stargate. Work on the project was well underway in Texas before Trump took office - but the business leaders were eager to give Trump credit for announcing the investment. "This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential under a new president," Trump said. "We want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor and others are competitors... we have to get this stuff built." But Trump doesn't love all of Biden's work on AI That doesn't mean Trump is taking up 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 provided some regulation on AI development and testing, and touched on issues of equity and discrimination in the technology. Alondra Nelson - who worked on AI policy under the Biden administration and now serves as a fellow at the Center for American Progress - says that decision was short-sighted. She's hoping for more clarity on the overall vision on AI from the new White House. "It seems like we're struggling in the early days of the Trump administration to get to a place where we can think about the AI ecosystem on a chess board and the larger strategy," Nelson said. The Trump administration is expected to be more hands-off with regulation of AI, said John Villasenor of UCLA's Institute for Technology, Law and Policy - but he said it's still in its early days. Villasenor expects the Trump administration's approach on AI to differ from what he called a "fear-based" narrative from the Biden White House, which focused on the risks and preventing negative outcomes from the technology, similar to how European nations are approaching AI. There's an added element of billionaire drama In the meantime, there's already been conflict over the one AI-related announcement that Trump did make. On Tuesday, after the tech CEOs trumpeted their investment, Trump adviser Elon Musk criticized the announcement. Musk, the richest man in the world, owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X. "They don't actually have the money," Musk posted on x.com. "SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot back on the platform saying that was wrong. On Thursday, Trump shrugged off the dispute, explaining that Musk and Altman just don't get along. "I have certain hatreds of people, too," Trump said.

Trump signs executive order on developing artificial intelligence 'free from ideological bias'

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on artificial intelligence Thursday that will revoke past government policies his order says "act as barriers to American AI innovation." To maintain global leadership in AI technology, "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," the order says. The new order doesn't name which existing policies are hindering AI development but calls for the development of an AI action plan within 180 days. Just hours after returning to the White House on Monday, Trump repealed former President Joe Biden's guardrails for fast-developing AI technology, a sweeping executive order signed in 2023. Until Thursday, it wasn't clear if Trump planned to replace Biden's signature AI policy with his own order. Trump had also signed executive orders on AI in his previous term, which are still on the books. Much of Biden's 2023 order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits, with an eye on ensuring AI tools weren't harming people. That work is done. One major piece that remained -- until Trump rescinded it Monday -- was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public.

Donald Trump signs executive order to boost US global AI dominance 'free from ideological bias'

It called for departments and agencies to revise or rescind all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions taken under the Biden AI executive order that are inconsistent with enhancing US leadership in artificial intelligence.US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to enhance America's global dominance in artificial intelligence and make it "free from ideological bias or engineered social agenda" by eliminating the Biden administration's policies in the matter. It called for departments and agencies to revise or rescind all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions taken under the Biden AI executive order that are inconsistent with enhancing US leadership in artificial intelligence. The executive order was signed by Trump in the Oval Office in the presence of David Sacks, his Artificial intelligence and Crypto Czar. "It is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance America's global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security," the order stated. It revokes the Biden AI Executive Order which, the Trump administration claimed, hampered the private sector's ability to innovate by imposing unnecessarily burdensome requirements for companies developing and deploying AI. Noting that the US must act decisively to retain leadership in AI and enhance US economic and national security, the executive order establishes the country's commitment to sustain and enhance its dominance in AI to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness and national security. As the US president signed the order, Sacks said, "We're basically announcing the administration's policy to make America the world capital in artificial intelligence and to dominate and to lead the world in AI." The executive order stated that American development of AI systems must be free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas and with the right government policies, the US can solidify its position as the leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans. It directed the development of an AI Action Plan to sustain and enhance the US' AI dominance, led by the assistant to the president for science and technology, the White House AI and crypto czar and the National Security Advisor. Trump, in his first term, signed the first-ever executive order on artificial intelligence in 2019, recognizing the paramount importance of American AI leadership to the economic and national security of the United States. The Trump administration committed to doubling AI research investment, established the first-ever national AI research institutes, strengthened American leadership in AI technical standards, and issued the world's first AI regulatory guidance to govern AI development in the private sector. He also took executive action in 2020 to establish the first-ever guidance for federal agency adoption of AI to more effectively deliver services to the American people and foster public trust in this critical technology.

Trump swings axe on Biden's sweeping AI executive order

US President Donald Trump quickly axed a raft of former President Joe Biden's executive orders on his first day back in the White House -- including a sweeping artificial intelligence executive order. In a Jan. 20 list of presidential actions, Trump revoked Biden's 2023 executive order that created standards for AI safety and security, including requiring AI makers to share safety test information with the government. Trump had criticized Biden's AI regulations as heavy-handed and hindering tech innovation, arguing that overregulation stifles creativity and economic growth. The Republican Party's 2024 platform described Biden's order as a hindrance to AI innovation, saying, "In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing." Top executives from the country's leading tech companies who have embraced AI -- such as Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai -- stood alongside Trump at his inauguration on Jan. 20. Other US firms have begun ramping up AI expansion, with Microsoft's announcement in September that it was establishing two AI centers in Abu Dhabi being among the significant AI investments throughout 2024. Biden's executive order, signed in October 2023, established a framework for AI that included six primary points, along with plans for the ethical use of AI in the government, privacy practices for citizens and steps for protecting consumer privacy. Related: Decentralized AI and AI agents driving Web3 2025 supercycle -- 0G Labs exec As part of the order, there were reporting mechanisms for companies, and guidance was utilized from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to help companies identify flaws in language models, including biases. Alondra Nelson, a senior fellow from the public policy advocacy group the Center for American Progress, said on Jan. 20 that without a "thoughtful replacement," Trump's repeal of the order was "self-defeating for our country." "This will leave the American public unprotected from the risks and harms of AI and, therefore, unable to take up the benefits it might bring," she added. Alexander Nowrasteh, an analyst at the Cato Institute -- a libertarian US think tank -- said in a Jan. 20 X post that it would have been better if some sections of the order were "kept because it eased AI worker immigration. Conservative proponents of skilled immigration have lost." During the last days of the Biden administration, it proposed a framework that would apply cap and licensing restrictions for AI semiconductor sales to all but 18 US allies and partners. The decision sparked a backlash from the tech industry over concerns that it would stifle innovation and undermine America's leadership in the sector. Magazine: BTC's 'reasonable' $180K target, NFTs plunge in 2024, and more: Hodler's Digest Jan 12 - 18

Trump signs executive order on developing artificial intelligence 'free from ideological bias'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on artificial intelligence Thursday that will revoke past government policies his order says "act as barriers to American AI innovation." To maintain global leadership in AI technology, "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," the order says. The new order doesn't name which existing policies are hindering AI development but calls for the development of an AI action plan within 180 days. Just hours after returning to the White House on Monday, Trump repealed former President Joe Biden's guardrails for fast-developing AI technology, a sweeping executive order signed in 2023. Until Thursday, it wasn't clear if Trump planned to replace Biden's signature AI policy with his own order. Trump had also signed executive orders on AI in his previous term, which are still on the books. Much of Biden's 2023 order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits, with an eye on ensuring AI tools weren't harming people. That work is done. One major piece that remained -- until Trump rescinded it Monday -- was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public.

Trump signs executive order on developing artificial intelligence 'free from ideological bias'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on artificial intelligence Thursday that will revoke past government policies his order says "act as barriers to American AI innovation." To maintain global leadership in AI technology, "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," the order says. The new order doesn't name which existing policies are hindering AI development but calls for the development of an AI action plan within 180 days. Just hours after returning to the White House on Monday, Trump repealed former President Joe Biden's guardrails for fast-developing AI technology, a sweeping executive order signed in 2023. Until Thursday, it wasn't clear if Trump planned to replace Biden's signature AI policy with his own order. Trump had also signed executive orders on AI in his previous term, which are still on the books. Much of Biden's 2023 order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything from cybersecurity risks to its effects on education, workplaces and public benefits, with an eye on ensuring AI tools weren't harming people. That work is done. One major piece that remained -- until Trump rescinded it Monday -- was a requirement that tech companies building the most powerful AI models share details with the government about the workings of those systems before they are unleashed to the public.

Trump signals aggressive stance as US races China in AI development

Before he had been in office for 48 hours, President Donald Trump sent a clear signal that to outpace China, his administration will be pursuing an aggressive agenda when it comes to pushing the United States forward on the development of artificial intelligence and the infrastructure that powers it. On his first day in office, Trump rescinded an executive order signed in 2023 by former President Joe Biden that sought to place some guardrails around the development of more and more powerful generative AI tools and to create other protections for privacy, civil rights and national security. The following day, Trump met with the leaders of several leading technology firms, including Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI; Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle; and Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, to announce a $500 billion private sector investment in AI infrastructure known as Stargate. "Beginning immediately, Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI, and this will include the construction of colossal data centers," Trump said in a media event at the White House on Tuesday. Specifically, Stargate will invest in the creation of as many as 10 huge data centers in the United States that will provide the computing for artificial intelligence systems. The first data center is already under construction in Texas. The massive private sector investment will create up to 100,000 U.S. jobs, the executives said. Keeping AI in the US "What we want to do is, we want to keep it in this country," Trump said. "China is a competitor, and others are competitors. We want it to be in this country, and we're making it available. I'm going to help a lot through emergency declarations, because we have an emergency. We have to get this stuff built." The assembled tech leaders took the opportunity to praise the new president. "I think this will be the most important project of this era," Altman said. "We wouldn't be able to do this without you, Mr. President." Janet Egan, a senior fellow in the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security, said that all the signals Trump is sending indicate he is serious about maintaining the United States' current advantages in the development of advanced AI. "I think this shows that he's going to have a really clear mind as to how to partner closely with the private sector to enable them to speed up and run fast," Egan said. "We've also seen him take direct action on some of the bottlenecks that are impeding the development of AI infrastructure in the U.S., and a particular focus is energy." OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has relied on Microsoft data centers for its computing. The firm reportedly discussed with the Biden administration the regulatory hurdles of planning and permitting when building data centers. In a policy paper released earlier this month, OpenAI cited the competition with China, laying out its policy proposals to "extending America's global leadership in AI innovation." "Chips, data, energy and talent are the keys to winning on AI -- and this is a race America can and must win," the paper said. "There's an estimated $175 billion sitting in global funds awaiting investment in AI projects, and if the U.S. doesn't attract those funds, they will flow to China-backed projects -- strengthening the Chinese Communist Party's global influence." Patrick Hedger, director of policy at NetChoice, a technology trade association, told VOA that the Stargate announcement "immediately signaled to me that private capital is more than willing to come off the sidelines these days with the new Trump administration." As part of his flurry of executive actions on Monday, Trump eliminated several preexisting executive orders placing limits on fossil fuel extraction and power generation. In the White House event on Monday, Trump also noted that AI data centers consume vast amounts of electricity and said he would be clearing the way for Stargate and other private companies to invest in new energy generation projects. China competition While Trump eliminated many of Biden's executive orders immediately on Monday, he does not appear to have taken action against some of the former president's other AI-related initiatives. Last year, Biden took several steps to restrict China's access to cutting-edge technology related to AI, specifically, restricting the ability of companies that sell advanced semiconductors and the machinery used to produce them to Chinese firms. On that issue, Egan said, Trump and Biden appear to be on the same page. "I think it's important to also note the continuity in how Trump's approaching AI," she said. "He, too, sees it as a national security risk and national security imperative. ... So, I think we should expect to see this run-fast approach to AI complemented by continued efforts to understand and manage emerging risks. Particularly cyber, nuclear, biological risks, as well as a more muscular approach to export controls and enforcement." Speed and safety Louis Rosenberg, CEO and chief scientist at Unanimous AI and a prominent figure in the field for decades, told VOA he thinks there is a bipartisan consensus that AI needs to be developed speedily but also responsibly. "At the highest level, the accelerating risks around frontier AI is not a partisan issue," he wrote in an email exchange. "Both parties realize that significant safeguards will be needed as AI gets increasingly intelligent and flexible, especially as autonomous AI agents get released at large scale." Rosenberg said the most significant question is how the U.S. can remain the global leader in AI development while making sure the systems that are deployed are safe and reliable. "I suspect the Trump administration will address AI risks by deploying its own targeted policies that are not as broad as the Biden executive order was but can address real threats much faster," he wrote. "The Biden executive order was very useful in raising the alarm about AI, but from a practical perspective it did not provide meaningful protections from the important emerging risks. "Ultimately we need to find a way to move fast on AI development and move fast on AI protection. We need speed on both fronts," Rosenberg said.

Trump All-In On AI As He Revokes Biden-Era AI Regulations

On his first day back in the White House, President Trump revoked nearly 80 of President Biden's executive orders, including the one Biden signed in October 2023 to establish federal regulations concerning artificial intelligence (AI). Among the numerous impacts of Biden's executive order on AI was establishing government regulations and standards to ensure that AI systems did not threaten the American public, whether by taking their jobs or exposing the United States and its people to grave threats. Trump's executive order, which serves to revoke Biden's attempt to mitigate AI's risks, sings the same tune as many of Trump's early executive actions: deregulating the government. Trump and other Republican lawmakers claim that deregulation is a win for free speech and will bolster the economy. One AI-related Biden-era action Trump did not target was Biden's executive order last week that ensured that AI data centers had the necessary power to operate. The United States believes that AI centers may need as much as five gigawatts of energy by 2028, equivalent to the power generated by about 9.44 million solar panels or two and a half Hoover Dams. Biden's recent AI energy executive order also said that AI data centers that purchase federal land for their operations must buy an "appropriate share" of American-made semiconductors, which may also jive well with Presiden Trump's "America first" promises. With Trump's new executive order, the federal government immediately stops all activity concerning AI safety and transparency, opening the doors for companies to run wild and unchecked, unless President Trump enacts a new order with different regulations than Biden's. However, political experts unanimously expect Trump's White House to take a relatively hands-off approach to AI. Before being sworn back into office, Trump had repeatedly said that Biden's AI regulations served to hinder technological innovation, a complaint that tech companies themselves levied against President Biden. These tech companies were on hand to watch Trump be sworn back into office on Monday, January 20, 2025. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook, and Elon Musk all had premium seating positions at Trump's inauguration, just behind the President's family. TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chou was also at the inauguration, a fact that ties nicely into Trump's executive order that delays the TikTok ban for 75 days. This gives TikTok more time to find a potential U.S. buyer, assuming that TikTok will remain beholden to the law passed by Congress and approved by the United States Supreme Court. There's little doubt that one of the tech moguls seated in the second row at the inauguration would love a piece of that pie.

US president Trump repeals Biden's AI safety order

Donald Trump at The Believers Summit in Florida in July 2024. Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) The move has prompted criticism from the Center for American Progress. Newly inaugurated US president Donald Trump has repealed former US president Joe Biden's 2023 executive order which aimed to create safeguards for artificial intelligence (AI) development. The move is the latest in a series of tech-related developments concerning the returning president. Yesterday, Tik Tok credited Trump for facilitating its quick return in the US after it briefly shut down. Trump has also officially enacted the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is co-led by the world's richest man, Elon Musk. The repealed order, named Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, came at a time when society grappled (and it still grapples) with the ethical implications of AI. While this form of technology holds potential to advance a vast range of human activity, from discovering new medicines for diseases to predicting weather disasters caused by the climate crisis, many critics have raised concerns about the potential dangers of leaving its development unchecked. Biden himself said at the time: "One thing is clear: to realise the promise of AI and avoid the risks, we need to govern this technology. There's no other way around it, in my view. It must be governed." As a result, Biden's order directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to look out for flaws in AI models, including biases. It also required developers of AI systems to share the results of safety tests with the US government before the tech was publicly released. The Trump administration has now alleged that the Biden administration "embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government". It also accused the previous administration of being overly focused on diversity, open borders and business regulations. "To commence the policies that will make our nation united, fair, safe and prosperous again, it is the policy of the US to restore common sense to the Federal Government and unleash the potential of the American citizen." The Trump administration also said that the revocations in the order "will be the first of many steps the US Federal Government will take to repair our institutions and our economy". Trump accused of 'creating chaos' The latest executive order has not come without criticism. Alondra Nelson of the Center for American Progress criticised the repeal, accusing Trump of "[again] creating chaos for those developing and deploying the most impactful technologies of our time". "The Trump administration must not believe in true American innovation that can build and deploy technologies in a manner that is safe, secure and trustworthy for us all, with clear rules of the road. "Was it too much to ask AI developers for transparency regarding the safety testing of their products?" Nelson said that the repeal is "nothing short of payback to Silicon Valley billionaires", an apparent reference to the number of tech giants who have donated to Trump's inauguration fund in recent weeks. "This will leave the American public unprotected from the risks and harms of AI and, therefore, unable to take up the benefits it might bring," Nelson argued. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news. Donald Trump at The Believers Summit in Florida in July 2024. Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Trump rescinds Biden's executive order on AI safety, as promised

Hours after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump made a symbolic mark on the future of artificial intelligence by repealing former President Joe Biden's guardrails for the fast-developing technology. But what comes next from Trump and how it will diverge from how his predecessor sought to safeguard AI technology remains unclear. The new administration didn't respond to requests for comment about the repealed Biden policy and even some of Trump's most enthusiastic tech industry supporters aren't so sure. "I think that the previous order had a lot in it," said Alexandr Wang, the CEO of AI company Scale, describing Biden's 2023 executive order on AI as overly lengthy but declining to name what about it was harmful. "It's hard to comment on each individual piece of it. There's certainly some parts of it that we strongly agree with." Wang, who traveled to Washington to attend Trump's inaugural festivities, is also optimistic that better things are yet to come. He and other Silicon Valley leaders who previously worked with the Biden administration have embraced Trump and hope to guide his approach toward one with fewer restrictions.

'Move fast and break things': Trump's $500 billion AI project has major risks

In one of his first moves as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump announced a new US$500 billion project called Stargate to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US. The project is a partnership between three large tech companies -- OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. Trump called it "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history" and said it would help keep "the future of technology" in the US. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, however, had a different take, claiming without evidence on his platform X that the project's backers "don't actually have the money." X, which is not included in Stargate, is also working on developing AI and Musk is a rival to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Alongside announcing Stargate, Trump also revoked an executive order signed by his predecessor Joe Biden that was aimed at addressing and controlling AI risks. Seen together, these two moves embody a mentality common in tech development that can best be summed up by the phrase: "move fast and break things." The Stargate project will significantly extend this lead over other nations. It will see a network of data centers built across the US. These centers will house enormous computer servers necessary for running AI programs such as ChatGPT. These servers will run 24/7 and will require significant amounts of electricity and water to operate. According to a statement by OpenAI, construction of new data centers as part of Stargate is already underway in the US state of Texas, "[W]e are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements." An imperfect -- but promising -- order The increased investment into AI development by Trump is encouraging. It could help advance the many potential benefits of AI. For example, AI can improve cancer patients' prognosis by rapidly analyzing medical data and detecting early signs of disease. But Trump's simultaneous revocation of Biden's executive order on the "safe, secure and trustworthy development and use of AI" is deeply concerning. It could mean that any potential benefits of Stargate are quickly trumped by its potential to exacerbate existing harms of AI technologies. Yes, Biden's order lacked important technical details. But it was a promising start towards developing safer and more responsible AI systems. One major issue it was meant to address was tech companies collecting personal data for AI training without first obtaining consent. AI systems collect data from all over the internet. Even if data are freely accessible on the internet for human use, it does not mean AI systems should use them for training. Also, once a photo or text is fed into an AI model, it cannot be removed. There have been numerous cases of artists suing AI art generators for unauthorized use of their work. Another issue Biden's order aimed to tackle was the risk of harm -- especially to people from minority communities. Most AI tools aim to increase accuracy for the majority. Without proper design, they can make extremely dangerous decisions for a few. For example, in 2015, an image-recognition algorithm developed by Google automatically tagged pictures of black people as "gorillas." This same issue was later found in AI systems of other companies such as Yahoo and Apple, and remains unresolved a decade later because these systems are so often inscrutable even to their creators. This opacity makes it crucial to design AI systems correctly from the start. Problems can be deeply embedded in the AI system itself, worsening over time and becoming nearly impossible to fix. As AI tools increasingly make important decisions, such as résumé screening, minorities are being even more disproportionately affected. For example, AI-powered face recognition software more commonly misidentifies black people and other people of color, which has lead to false arrests and imprisonment. Faster, more powerful AI systems Trump's twin AI announcements in the first days of his second term as US president show his main focus in terms of AI -- and that of the biggest tech companies in the world -- is on developing ever more faster, more powerful AI systems. If we compare an AI system with a car, this is like developing the fastest car possible while ignoring crucial safety features like seat belts or airbags in order to keep it lighter and thus faster. For both cars and AI, this approach could mean putting very dangerous machines into the hands of billions of people around the world.

Why Trump dashed Biden's AI executive order, and why it matters

During President Donald Trump's first few hours in power, he revoked Joe Biden's 2023 executive order on AI. In the absence of congressional action, Biden's EO served as the first effort by the federal government to address the considerable societal and national security risks presented by AI. Relying on the Defense Production Act, the EO required developers of the largest AI systems to submit safety testing data to the government before the models were released. But now, the government will likely pull back its oversight role. Trump's revocation was no surprise. The president vowed to reverse the Biden EO while on the campaign trail after a number of industry groups complained that the Biden EO's reporting requirements were onerous, and could require AI companies to divulge trade secrets. The 2024 Republican platform even called the order "dangerous," claiming it imposed "radical leftwing ideas on the development of this technology." The Trump Administration has also been responsive to tech industry accelerationist voices saying that the U.S. falling behind China in AI research could represent a national security threat. Trump campaign officials met with tech industry luminaries during 2024 to give assurances that the government will not place restrictions and requirements on AI researchers and developers. Alongside the industry reporting requirements, Biden's EO called on government agencies to study and develop plans for implementing AI in their own operations. Many of the 50 agencies addressed in the document were far into their AI initiatives and projects by the end of Biden's term. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for example, completed three pilot projects during 2024 and already has 158 AI tools in use across the department.

Trump scraps AI safety oversight

Newly-inaugurated US President Donald Trump has rescinded a Biden administration executive order that established oversight measures for companies developing influential AI models. The Biden policy, signed in October 2023, was largely voluntary and required major AI developers like OpenAI and Google to share safety assessments and vital information with the federal government. It initiated a framework for AI safety standards aimed at protecting privacy and preventing civil rights violations, including racial discrimination, while also calling for safeguards against national security threats. While major tech companies building advanced AI models supported the order, smaller tech entrepreneurs -- many of whom backed Trump -- opposed it. Its repeal on Monday leaves the United States, home to most of the world's most powerful AI models, without formal AI development guidelines. When ChatGPT's release caused global waves, tech leaders including Trump ally Elon Musk called for swift government action to control AI development, even as they raced to compete in the field. The 2024 Republican party platform labeled Biden's order "dangerous," claiming it stifled AI innovation and imposed leftist ideology on technological development. The US's hands-off approach contrasts sharply with other regions implementing AI regulations. The EU passed its comprehensive AI Act in May 2024, establishing legally binding rules based on risk levels, while China is developing its own regulatory framework. Biden's executive order "played a valuable role in shaping the public and private sectors' approach to AI at a breakthrough moment for the technology," said Alexandra Reeve Givens of the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology. "But with or without the Order in effect, it's in everyone's interest to continue to adopt AI tools in smart, responsible ways and ensure America remains a leader in AI governance."

Trump reverses 'critical' AI safety order on first day in office

Amid a flurry of repeals and rollbacks to his predecessor's executive orders during his first day back in office, Donald Trump has announced that he's reversed an executive order from former-President Biden once deemed "critical" by Microsoft. The order sought to protect workers, consumers and national security interests from potential harms caused by emerging AI technologies. The previous administration released the order in October 2023, dubbed the "Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence." The order concedes that generative AI systems offer both "promise and peril" to America and could potentially, "exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, [and] bias." Links to the newly-cancelled executive orders now return 404 error pages on the White House website. Recommended Videos In his order, Biden directed the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to provide guidance to companies to help identify and correct instances of bias in their large language models. The order also sought to prioritize American workers by ensuring jobs would not be lost due to AI, promoted personal information protections, and advocated for open and equitable AI marketplaces. This move comes amidst Trump's busy first day back in power, wherein he rescinded some 75 executive orders from the previous president. In Tuesday's announcement, the Trump administration also argued that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives have "corrupted" U.S. institutions by "replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy." Trump's actions are not unexpected, however, as he had campaigned heavily on the promise to roll back consumer AI protections throughout the 2024 election cycle. He stated that he would "support AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing" but, as with his similar claims about replacing the Affordable Care Act during his previous term, Trump has not provided any details on what that alternative would actually look like. Whether Biden's AI protections are gone for good remains to be seen as Trump himself has previously claimed that generative AI technologies are a "superpower" that offer "alarming" potential.

Trump orders AI action plan and more work erasing Biden's AI efforts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order related to AI to "make America the world capital in artificial intelligence," his aide told reporters in the White House's Oval Office. The order sets a 180-day deadline for an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan to create a policy "to sustain and enhance America's global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security." Trump also told his AI adviser and national security assistant to work to remove policies and regulations put in place by former President Joe Biden. Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security. Biden's order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Trump signs executive order to boost US leadership in AI By Investing.com

Investing.com-- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, aimed at strengthening the United States' position as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI). The order sets the stage for new policies to advance innovation while removing what the administration views as unnecessary barriers. According to the order, published on the White House website, the U.S. must build AI systems free from "ideological bias or engineered social agendas." The goal is to maintain America's dominance in AI while fostering economic competitiveness, enhancing national security, and promoting human flourishing. The order tasks top officials, including the President's advisors on science, technology, and national security, to draft a detailed action plan within 180 days. This plan will outline steps to develop AI systems aligned with the administration's goals. The administration emphasized the importance of clear, streamlined government policies in achieving these objectives. The new directive revokes the previous Executive Order 14110, signed in October 2023, which focused on "safe, secure, and trustworthy" AI. It mandates a review of existing AI policies to identify and eliminate rules that may hinder innovation or conflict with the new approach. Agencies are instructed to suspend, revise, or rescind such policies wherever necessary. In addition, the order tasks the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with updating related directives to align with the new AI-focused strategy within 60 days. The order reflects the administration's emphasis on bolstering the U.S.'s competitive edge in emerging technologies. Trump framed the move as critical to ensuring the nation remains a leader in AI innovation in the global landscape. Trump had unveiled a $500 billion joint venture, named Stargate on Tuesday, to develop a new artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.S. The investment will be used to build extensive AI data centers and electricity generation facilities in Texas over the next four years, significantly bolstering the nation's AI capabilities.

Trump revokes AI risk regulation in day one executive order

The order revokes a previous executive order, that demanded thorough research on AI tools before release Day one of Donald Trump's presidency has been marked by over 200 executive orders. The returning US president has used his executive power to sign in a number of drastic policy changes, among which is one regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI). Back in 2023, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14110, titled "Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence." The directive's goal was to establish a national framework for governing AI in the United States. It mandated that developers of AI systems, posing risks to national security, economic stability, or public health and safety, conduct rigorous safety tests and share the results with the federal government before public deployment. The goal was to make sure potential risks of new AI tools were analyzed, before the tools were given to the general public. Furthermore, the order directed federal agencies to create guidelines for the responsible use of AI, including measures to prevent algorithmic discrimination and protect civil rights. It also called for the development of standards to identify AI-generated content, aiming to address concerns related to misinformation and deepfakes. On January 20, the first day of President Trump being in the Oval Office, he revoked this executive order, Reuters reports. This was in line with what Trump promised during his campaign, as the Republican party said it "supported AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing." Generative AI (GenAI) is a relatively new tool that can create new content, such as text, images, music, or code, after receiving commands (or prompts) in the form of natural human language. Opinion makers, the academia, and the general public, were both excited and afraid of this new technology. On one end, it is exciting because it unlocks creativity, automates tasks, and enables groundbreaking applications, but on the other, it is scary since it can be abused in misinformation campaigns, and can lead to job displacement.

Oh well, looks like the next 4 years are going to be an AI free-for-all as Trump nixes Biden administration's safety order

Among a very (very) long list of Biden administration executive orders cancelled on day one of Trump's second term as president, one stands out as particularly impactful when it comes to technology. Executive Order 14110 has been nixed and with it a framework for regulating the development of AI tools, software and models. Order 14110 was issued in October 2023 and aimed to reduce the risk associated with developing AI technologies. It required AI system developers to share the results of safety tests with the US government and directed relevant federal agencies set standards for those tests. The order, originally titled "Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence," also contained provisions for the protection of copyright material involved in the process of training AI models, such as ChatGPT, set out a framework to minimize "unlawful discrimination" due AI model bias and sought to prevent US jobs from being harmed by AI. When the order was issued, it drew support from some inside the AI industry, with Microsoft President Brad Smith calling a "critical step forward in the governance of AI technology." But whatever the pros and cons of the order, one thing we can say for sure is that it's officially a goner. Among a list of fully 78 other Biden era orders deemed "harmful" by the new administration, Order 14110 has been immediately revoked. Indeed it's hard to know exactly what impact this will all have. On the one hand, it seems to open the floodgates for an unregulated AI free-for-all. On the other, it's unclear how much impact the now-cancelled order had. In practice, its revocation may make little difference. That said, it's notable that the EU has its own AI Act, signed into law in March 2024, which bans the use of biometric data, requires new high-risk systems to undergo safety testing before release, and insists that copyright data used in training must be disclosed. Moreover, leading figures in the industry such as OpenAI's Sam Altman have called for greater regulation and the creation of a new federal agency tasked with licensing operators who breach a certain threshold of AI capability. At the same time, it's likewise clear that even the most advanced and best-resourced tech companies are capable of releasing AI tools that either don't work very well or raise safety concerns, whether its the on-again, off-again debacle with Microsoft's Recall for Windows or the more recent suspension of Apple's AI news summaries. Ultimately, it's hard to believe that the development and use of AI systems will be safer with the guardrails taken away. So, the tradeoff here is a balance between the economic and strategic benefits of taking the AI industry in the US off whatever leash was constraining it, versus any damage that might be done by releasing unregulated AI tech. For the record, the White House URL for the original order now 404s, so the Trump administration has fully purged it from existence. All that's really left to do is buckle up, cross your fingers and toes and see how the next four years go.

This Week in AI: Trump Repeals Biden AI Rules but Launches Stargate | PYMNTS.com

As expected, President Donal Trump this week signed an executive order rolling back former President Joe Biden's 2023 artificial intelligence (AI) rules, which had been the country's most comprehensive set of policies overseeing its advances. Biden ordered the federal government to scrutinize powerful AI models before they are released to the public, create chief AI officers at federal agencies and develop AI-related security guidelines to enhance cybersecurity, among other stipulations. However, Trump thus far has left Biden's other AI-related orders unchanged. He did not revise Biden's policy restricting exports of advanced AI chips -- principally affecting Nvidia's chips -- to nations like China that could use them to beef up its own military's technical prowess. In his last days in office, Biden expanded his chip export controls, essentially carving out the haves and have nots among more than 120 countries. Trump also has not weighed in on Biden's last-minute executive order on using AI to make the nation's defensive cybersecurity capabilities more robust. He also didn't change Biden's recent executive order letting companies lease federal land for the building of AI data centers, whose computing power is necessary to keep powering AI advances. Trump did announce an up-to-$500 billion project called Stargate, which aims to build big AI-focused data centers in the U.S. The first 10 data centers are being constructed in Texas, later to be expanded to 20. The first 500,000-square foot data center is being built in Abilene, Texas, about 180 miles west of Dallas, according to Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison. Equity partners in Stargate are SoftBank, which will be responsible for funding the venture, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX, an AI-focused sovereign wealth fund in Dubai. OpenAI co-leads the venture with SoftBank; it will have operational responsibility for the project. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son will chair Stargate. Oracle, Arm, Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI will be the project's initial technology partners. But Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk injected drama into the announcement, posting on X that "they don't actually have the money." He also said SoftBank has "well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority," but without elaborating. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded by saying Musk is "wrong, as you surely know." After inviting Musk to visit the first data center site, Altman said, "I realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you'll mostly put (America) first." Asked about Stargate, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told CNBC that "we're good for $80 billion," even though the software giant is not officially responsible for funding the project. Nadella said Microsoft spends $80 billion in capital expenditures yearly and has its own plans for Azure data centers. This week was the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, where titans of industry met with heads of state to discuss the pressing issues of the day. AI was a focus of the event, especially as it relates to advances in healthcare that can start to bridge the level of care available to citizens of both developed and emerging countries, according to panelists. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said AI-designed drugs are coming to clinical trials this year, during a fireside chat at the event. Hassabis won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his role in developing AlphaFold2, which can predict the 3D structure of every known protein, solving a half-century biology challenge. These drugs fall under the auspices of Google's Isomorphic Labs, which Hassabis leads. In another panel, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he believes that AI-powered advances in biology can lead to doubling the human lifespan. He called this the "grand vision." He said that if AI today can shrink a century's worth of work in biology to five to 10 years, and if one believes it would take 100 years to double the average length of human life, then "a doubling of the human lifespan is not at all crazy, and if AI is able to accelerate that we may be able to get that in five to 10 years." Amodei also said his startup is working on the "virtual collaborator," which is a high-level AI agent that can interact with other employees, and do tasks like use Slack chat, open Google docs and the like. Managers can check in from time to time with this AI agent, just like they would human employees. Meanwhile, he predicted that by 2026 or 2027, AI systems will be developed that will be smarter than nearly all humans in doing nearly all tasks. OpenAI took the wraps off its long-rumored AI agent, Operator, which can use a computer like a human, even using a cursor and keyboard. It is able to interpret screenshots and interact with graphic user interfaces (such as buttons, menus and text fields) on the computer screen. Through a browser, users can ask Operator to do things like order groceries, book reservations and buy event tickets, among other tasks. OpenAI noted that users will still have to approve sensitive transactions, such as making purchases, doing financial transactions and sending emails. "This represents an important step towards a future where ChatGPT is not only capable of answering questions, but can take actions on a user's behalf," according to OpenAI's system card on Operator. However, OpenAI also warned of risks that include malicious instructions from third-party websites could mislead the model or let it do harmful or banned tasks, as well as ChatGPT making mistakes that might be hard to reverse. A preview of Operator is available initially to U.S. ChatGPT Pro users. It will be available to ChatGPT Plus users in a few months.

US President Donald Trump Revokes Executive Order on Addressing AI Risks

The US aims to manage energy needs for advanced AI data centres US President Donald Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by former President Joe Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security. Biden's order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to US national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the US government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public. The order also directed agencies to set standards for that testing and address related chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and cybersecurity risks. Biden's order came as US lawmakers have failed to pass legislation setting guardrails for AI development. The 2024 Republican Party platform vowed to repeal the order that it said hinders AI innovation and added "Republicans support AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing." Generative AI, which can create text, photos and videos in response to open-ended prompts, has spurred excitement as well as fears it could make some jobs obsolete or have other negative consequences. Last week, the US Commerce Department issued new restrictions on AI chip and technology exports that drew criticism from industry including companies like Nvidia. Biden issued a separate executive order last week to provide federal support to address massive energy needs for fast-growing advanced AI data centers, calling for leasing federal sites owned by Defense and Energy departments. Trump did not repeal that order.

Trump Repeals Biden's Executive Order on AI Development and Use | PYMNTS.com

Executive Order 14110 of Oct. 30, 2023 (Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence) was among the "initial recissions of harmful executive orders and actions" included in Trump's Monday (Jan. 20) executive order. "To commence the policies that will make our nation united, fair, safe and prosperous again, it is the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the federal government and unleash the potential of the American citizen," Trump's executive order said. "The revocations within this order will be the first of many steps the United States federal government will take to repair our institutions and our economy." The 2024 Republican Party platform promised to repeal Biden's October 2023 executive order on AI, saying that it hindered innovation and that "Republicans support AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing," Reuters reported Monday. An AI-focused executive order that Biden issued last week -- which provides federal support to address the energy needs of AI data centers and calls for leasing federal sites owned by Defense and Energy departments -- was not repealed by Trump, according to the report. The executive order that was repealed included a rule saying that the developers of "the most powerful AI systems" must share their safety test results and other key information with the federal government. The order said that "companies developing any foundation model that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety must notify the federal government when training the model, and must share the results of all red-team safety tests." Biden's executive order came as nations worldwide were scrambling to set regulatory frameworks in place for AI and generative AI, PYMNTS reported shortly after that order was issued. Trump was expected to loosen or repeal Biden's AI regulations after taking his oath of office, PYMNTS reported Monday. While he is likely to impose fewer regulations on AI than Biden, Trump issued an executive order in 2020 that tasked federal agencies to use AI for the benefit of the American people.

'Move fast and break things': Trump's $500 billion AI project has major risks

In one of his first moves as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump announced a new US$500 billion project called Stargate to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US. The project is a partnership between three large tech companies - OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. Trump called it "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history" and said it would help keep "the future of technology" in the US. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, however, had a different take, claiming without evidence on his platform X that the project's backers "don't actually have the money". X, which is not included in Stargate, is also working on developing AI and Musk is a rival to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Alongside announcing Stargate, Trump also revoked an executive order signed by his predecessor Joe Biden that was aimed at addressing and controlling AI risks. Seen together, these two moves embody a mentality common in tech development that can best be summed up by the phrase: "move fast and break things". What is Stargate? The US is already the world's frontrunner when it comes to AI development. The Stargate project will significantly extend this lead over other nations. It will see a network of data centres built across the US. These centres will house enormous computer servers necessary for running AI programs such as ChatGPT. These servers will run 24/7 and will require significant amounts of electricity and water to operate. According to a statement by OpenAI, construction of new data centres as part of Stargate is already underway in the US state of Texas: [W]e are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalise definitive agreements. An imperfect - but promising - order The increased investment into AI development by Trump is encouraging. It could help advance the many potential benefits of AI. For example, AI can improve cancer patients' prognosis by rapidly analysing medical data and detecting early signs of disease. But Trump's simultaneous revocation of Biden's executive order on the "safe, secure and trustworthy development and use of AI" is deeply concerning. It could mean that any potential benefits of Stargate are quickly trumped by its potential to exacerbate existing harms of AI technologies. Yes, Biden's order lacked important technical details. But it was a promising start towards developing safer and more responsible AI systems. One major issue it was meant to address was tech companies collecting personal data for AI training without first obtaining consent. AI systems collect data from all over the internet. Even if data are freely accessible on the internet for human use, it does not mean AI systems should use them for training. Also, once a photo or text is fed into an AI model, it cannot be removed. There have been numerous cases of artists suing AI art generators for unauthorised use of their work. Another issue Biden's order aimed to tackle was the risk of harm - especially to people from minority communities. Most AI tools aim to increase accuracy for the majority. Without proper design, they can make extremely dangerous decisions for a few. For example, in 2015, an image-recognition algorithm developed by Google automatically tagged pictures of black people as "gorillas". This same issue was later found in AI systems of other companies such as Yahoo and Apple, and remains unresolved a decade later because these systems are so often inscrutable even to their creators. This opacity makes it crucial to design AI systems correctly from the start. Problems can be deeply embedded in the AI system itself, worsening over time and becoming nearly impossible to fix. As AI tools increasingly make important decisions, such as résumé screening, minorities are being even more disproportionately affected. For example, AI-powered face recognition software more commonly misidentifies black people and other people of colour, which has lead to false arrests and imprisonment. Faster, more powerful AI systems Trump's twin AI announcements in the first days of his second term as US president show his main focus in terms of AI - and that of the biggest tech companies in the world - is on developing ever more faster, more powerful AI systems. If we compare an AI system with a car, this is like developing the fastest car possible while ignoring crucial safety features like seat belts or airbags in order to keep it lighter and thus faster. For both cars and AI, this approach could mean putting very dangerous machines into the hands of billions of people around the world.

AI Regulations: Trump Repeals Biden's Order, French Minister Critiques EU AI Act | PYMNTS.com

As expected, President Donald Trump repealed his predecessor Joe Biden's 2023 artificial intelligence (AI) regulations on his first day in office. The former executive order would have required the federal government to vet the advanced AI models of major developers such as OpenAI, Google, Amazon and other tech giants. Biden's order also established chief AI officers in major federal agencies and set out frameworks that addressed ethical and security risks. Trump's reversal marks a significant policy shift that is lighter on regulations and guardrails and more pro-growth and pro-innovation. However, it is unclear how his repeal of Biden's executive order will be enacted on the ground for federal agencies that already have instituted such policies. Notably, Trump established the first executive order on AI during his first term in office. As the U.S. rolls back AI guardrails and oversight, France critiqued the EU AI Act, the most comprehensive set of AI regulations globally. Any company doing business in the EU or interacting with EU citizens must comply with these regulations. The act focuses on gauging AI models and tools based on the different risk levels they pose to their users. Clara Chappaz, France's first minister of AI, said that rather than being a hurdle for companies, the act should be seen as a 'tool to help you go faster." Europe can unite to establish a framework that doesn't hinder innovation by giving startups what they need in terms of infrastructure, access to data, and other support, she said at a panel during the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday (Jan. 22). Chappaz urged EU officials not to get "stuck" on the idea of regulating just to regulate, but rather see regulation as a springboard to innovation. IBM CEO and Chairman Arvind Krishna, who was on the same panel, added that regulations should be "light touch." But he pointed to the reality that even if the legislation's intent was for regulations to be a "scalpel when it comes to the hands of regulations, it's a sledgehammer." He said there is a place for a heavy-handed approach: AI systems that pose extreme risk. Krishna also believes that developers of AI models, mainly OpenAI and the Big Tech companies, are held accountable for what they are producing. Mistral AI CEO and Co-Founder Arthur Mensch, a French AI startup that is Europe's answer to OpenAI, took issue with tech executives cozying up to the U.S. government. During the same panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, Mensch said there should be a gap between the private and public sectors as legislators have their role to play. Among notable tech executives who attended the Trump inauguration were Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin. Mensch also disputed the idea that AI is costly to develop, a narrative that has served OpenAI and other AI startups as they raise billions of dollars for AI foundation model training. He said Mistral decided to develop open-source models to make AI widely available to everyone, noting that thus far, no fraudsters have used the models for malicious purposes. The biggest risk is the concentration of AI into a few hands, Mensch added. The U.S. Department of Commerce has published guidelines to optimize the use of open data for generative AI models. The guidelines affect not only Commerce Department employees but also the general public. The department holds some of the nation's most valuable open data assets, such as about the U.S. economy, people and the environment. The Commerce Department said that it has updated the way it processes and publishes data to reflect technological innovations, from digitizing records to using machine-readable formats in the 2010s. Now, the department is preparing its data for use by generative AI models. The new guidelines make its data not only machine-readable but also machine-understandable. "This means preserving the meaning and context of the data in ways that generative AI systems can accurately interpret and utilize," the department said in its report. Enabling generative AI models to better understand Commerce Department data will enable non-technical users to more easily get insights from the data by using AI chatbots like ChatGPT. The document details five major focus areas: Documentation, data and metadata formats, data storage and dissemination, data licensing and usage, and data integrity and quality.

Trump executive order rescinds Biden's AI framework

At a rally following the inauguration ceremonies, President Trump had a desk brought out on stage where he signed a number of executive orders. The first of the evening took aim at 78 of the Biden administration's orders, including the October 2023 guidelines for AI. "The revocations within this order will be the first of many steps the United States Federal Government will take to repair our institutions and our economy," the text reads. There's no explanation for any of the selections, just a long list with "the following actions are hereby revoked" as an introduction. Some were related to the on-going response COVID-19 pandemic while others concern immigration, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Biden's executive order outlined an ambitious plan to establish protections for the general public and best practices for the federal government with regard to artificial intelligence. More specifically, the EO sought new standards for safety and security in addition to protocols for AI watermarking and both civil rights and consumer protections. It also laid out plains to mitigate the impact on workers from businesses using AI as well as launched a new federal jobs portal seeking "more AI talent." In singular executive orders on Monday, Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement for the second time. He did so during his first term, but Biden reinstated US participation when he took office.

Trump Calls for US Dominance in AI With New Executive Order

President Donald Trump called for boosting US dominance in artificial intelligence with an executive order that demands a new policy direction for a rapidly evolving technology that's the focus of intense competition with China. Under the order signed at the White House on Thursday, Trump called for an interagency group to craft a new policy within six months intended to ensure US dominance in AI. The move came days after Trump scrapped an AI policy established by President Joe Biden that set safety and transparency requirements for AI developers.

AI Unites Davos & DC

In the past 72 hours, leaders of some of the world's biggest tech companies made headlines, turning up in dapper suits - but divided into two groups separated by 4,202 miles. While some radiated optimism about US President Donald Trump's new reign in Washington, D.C., others gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss the future of science and tech, with plans larger and brighter than the Swiss Alps. The divide was noticeable. "Feels symbolically interesting that Zuck (Mark Zuckerberg) and [Sam] Altman are in DC while [Dario] Amodei and [Demis] Hassabis are in Davos," an X user pointed out. While both noteworthy events took place simultaneously at different locations, a common theme tied them together - artificial intelligence (AI). Like a bolt of lightning striking the US Capitol on January 1, Trump announced The Stargate Project: a $500 billion AI infrastructure project backed by Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Moreover, Son was also named chairman of the project. "Stargate will...create over 1,00,000 American jobs almost immediately," Trump said. An initial investment of $100 billion will be deployed immediately, as per OpenAI's announcement. OpenAI also said that companies like Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Oracle are the initial technology partners. "All of us look forward to continuing to build and develop AI - and in particular AGI - for the benefit of all of humanity." Trump also revoked a 2023 executive order signed by former President Joe Biden, which aimed to reduce the risks posed by AI. These involved threats to US national security, civil health, and safety and urged companies to share the safety test results with the government. Notably, some of the industry's biggest names favour this move. In an interview published earlier, Aloft VC founder Crystal McKeller said, "They are (Trump and Vice President JD Vance) not going to just roll back regulations that are stifling American industry, but they are actually going to actively implement policies that will stimulate growth and encourage innovation." Trump also established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly the United States Digital Service (USDS). This aims to modernise federal technology and software to enhance efficiency and productivity. The order says that agencies, as defined by the United States Code, "shall establish within their respective agencies a DOGE team of at least four employees". "Each DOGE team will typically include one DOGE team lead, one engineer, one human resources specialist, and one attorney," the order added. Circling back to The Stargate Project, the crux of what the infrastructure is built for is to enable AI to "create cancer vaccines, personalised medicine, and pandemic prevention", according to Ellison. He added that it is going to be the "largest computer ever built". "We will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate. We will be amazed at how quickly we're curing cancer and heart disease..." Altman said. DC was all about infrastructure to propel AI. Davos, on the other hand, was more about ideas to propel AI. While it might seem like The Stargate Project was the biggest announcement on the AI front, Davos had plenty to offer. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei revealed that he never felt more confident than he did at that moment about the proximity of powerful AI systems. "What I've seen inside Anthropic and out of that over the last few months led me to believe that we're on track for human-level systems that surpass humans in every task within two to three years," he added. And as if being the first mover on autonomous computer use tools weren't enough, he announced plans to build a "virtual collaborator", a comprehensive AI agent that can autonomously handle multiple everyday tasks. He also said that Computer Use was just "one piece" of the company's vision, which was to build agents for a broad range of use cases. The "virtual collaborator", for example, can write, compile, and check code and even communicate with other workers on Slack. This sounds a lot like what Devin, the 'AI software engineer', is doing. The plethora of announcements comes as OpenAI still awaits the release of its AI agent. Moreover, the company is also reportedly raising over a billion dollars from Google, which also made a few important statements at Davos. Demis Hassabis, Nobel Prize winner and CEO of Google's research arm, DeepMind, announced that by the end of the year, they will "hopefully have some AI-designed drugs in the clinical trials". He outlined a pathway of innovations beyond predicting protein structures. "Eventually, my dream would be to simulate a virtual cell." Hassabis was also joined by Ardem Patapoutian, Nobel Prize laureate and molecular biologist, who explained the ambitious idea of a virtual cell. He explained that this involves creating a highly detailed representation of a cell in a digital 3D environment. "Let's say a certain protein is expressed very highly in a cell. But when you actually look at it and see it, all of it is localised at the tip of the neuron where something very specific is happening. That's going to give you a very different understanding than just levels of expression," Patapoutian added. When all is said and done, one big name remains missing. It was reported that Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, was neither at Davos nor DC. Instead, he was in China. All of these initiatives will only increase the demand for more hardware resources, specifically GPUs. Are NVIDIA and Huang the true winners in this sense?

Tech leaders praise Trump's rollback of Biden's 'AI red tape'

Zuckerberg goes full Trump, Musk cuts DOGE expectations, TikTok's day in court: Politics news roundup Trump issued a slate of executive orders on Monday, including one declaring a national energy emergency and approving executive department and agency heads to use "any lawful emergency authorities available to them" to start leasing, siting, producing, and generating U.S. energy resources -- including on federal land. The president also rescinded the Biden administration's 2023 executive order on AI safety and security as part of a sweeping revocation of the previous administration's executive orders and actions. "Upon returning to office, President Trump showed that America is ready to lead in tech and innovation again," Steve DelBianco, chief executive of NetChoice, said in a statement. "By repealing Biden's restrictive rules on energy production and AI development, the president is steering America to remain dominant in creating the best technology in the world." NetChoice also praised Trump's executive order on "restoring" free speech and "ending federal censorship" as "a victory for the First Amendment and all Americans." The trade organization said Congress should follow Trump's actions by reintroducing and passing the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, which "generally prohibits" executive agency employees from censoring speech while acting in an official capacity. "This critical legislation would ensure no future President or bureaucrats can coerce social media sites to suppress lawful American speech," Robert Winterton, NetChoice vice president of public affairs, said in a statement. Trump was joined by a slew of tech leaders on the dais at his inauguration Monday, including Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

Trump Scraps Biden's Sweeping AI Order in Regulatory Reset

President Donald Trump rescinded the Biden administration's sweeping executive order regulating artificial intelligence, marking a significant shift in federal oversight for the rapidly advancing technology. The move, announced on Monday, immediately halts the implementation of key safety and transparency requirements for AI developers. Biden's mandate, which was signed in 2023, had required leading artificial intelligence companies to share safety test results and other critical information for powerful AI systems with the federal government. It also prompted the creation of the US AI Safety Institute, housed under the Commerce Department, to create voluntary guidelines and best practices for the technology's use.

Donald Trump rescinds Biden-era executive order on AI safety

In his executive actions on day one of his presidency, Donald Trump rescinded an executive order Joe Biden signed in 2023 to establish safety guidelines for generative AI. The Biden-era order required developers of large AI models like OpenAI's GPT lineup to share the results of safety tests with the US government. It also directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards for safety testing, And it tasked other federal agencies with assessing any potential chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure risks AI might pose.

Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Joe Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security. Biden's order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Trump's executive orders: TikTok ban delayed, 'Safe AI' repealed

US President Donald Trump entered the Oval Office on January 20 and issued a flurry of Executive Orders (EO), many of which repealed actions taken under his predecessor Joe Biden. MediaNama looks at some of these orders, especially the ones concerning the nation's tech and digital policies. Trump issued an EO delaying the implementation of the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," which was passed by the US House of Representatives last year under Biden. The Act specifically targeted ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the popular social media app TikTok, and other "foreign-adversary" controlled applications. Citing national security concerns, the law forced ByteDance to either sell off TikTok or have it practically banned in the United States. True to his earlier promise, Trump signed an EO delaying the ban, pending a review of the cited national security concerns. He instructed the US Justice Department to not implement the Act and restrain from imposing any penalties for violations indefinitely. He also prohibited states and other private parties from enforcing the Act independently. TikTok went offline temporarily in the US after the Supreme Court denied a last-ditch appeal made by the company. It became accessible only hours later, however, as Trump announced on Truth Social about his plans to rescind the ban. App stores still aren't willing to take that risk, as TikTok remains unlisted for both Android and iOS users. All is not well for TikTok, however, as an EO might not be enough to save the app. Experts interviewed by NPR stated that Presidential Orders don't technically change an act of Congress and may be challenged in court. This might be why both Google and Apple are playing it safe, as the law would hold them liable for billions of dollars in fines. Meanwhile, the hawks are circling -- both Instagram and X have moved into the three-minute video content segment, a category once dominated by TikTok in the US, while Amazon-funded AI company Perplexity seeks a merger with TikTok US. Trump began his Presidential term by rolling back almost 80 Biden-era EOs, many of which contained measures to combat climate change, manage refugees and promote social equality. The White House stated that Biden had embedded "unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices" into the administration. One of those Orders also included a 2023 direction from Biden outlining measures for ensuring AI safety and security, citizen privacy, equity, protection of consumers and workers' rights, and promoting innovation. Biden's EO contained a number of provisions meant to regulate the use of AI, including requiring developers of powerful AI systems to share safety test results with the government. It also regulated the use of AI by the defense establishment and mandated the creation of a cybersecurity program. The order also contained provisions protecting the privacy rights of American citizens and prohibited AI-enabled discriminatory practices, alongside measures to protect workers from AI-induced job insecurity and promote fair competition. Trump had his own policy on AI, having issued an EO all the way back in February 2019 that promoted investment in AI. He also laid down another EO the next year, encouraging government agencies to integrate AI into their operations. The new administration released a broadly worded EO that prohibited federal agencies from actions that "unconstitutionally abridge" the free speech rights of American citizens. Trump's Order alleged that the previous administration had censored Americans on online platforms and coerced social media companies into deplatforming content that the admin did not approve. It stated that the government took these actions under the guise of combating "misinformation," "disinformation," and "malinformation." Trump also asked the US Attorney General to investigate any acts of censorship carried out under the last administration. Trump's decision to abjure from the alleged government censorship of the past is part of a general movement away from content moderation and organised fact-checking for social media platforms. Meta recently suspended third-party fact-checking and loosened its restrictions on political speech, including hot-button topics like immigration, gender and gender identity. Instead, it would move towards a community-notes model like X. Trump has historically been at odds with social media companies, with Meta and Twitter (now X) both banning him from their platforms in 2019. Both companies reinstated his accounts later, as Twitter underwent a management change and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly grew closer to Trump.

Trump wastes no time quashing Biden AI, EV executive orders

Also, prepare for paused wind projects and the Gulf of America from Trump 2.0 - and that's just day 1 US President Donald Trump has wasted no time in culling Biden-era programs, including the elimination of the prior administration's executive orders on AI safety and electric vehicles, and freezing funds for EV infrastructure. Trump revoked nearly 80 Biden EOs in his first day in office, including EO 14037, the EV mandate, and EO 14110, which established AI safety standards that, among other things, required companies building foundation models able to perform multiple different tasks to report said development to the US government. Biden's AI EO also included requirements that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) develop safety standards for AI that would test systems for their potential to be used in creation of weapons of mass destruction, or as tools for the creation of disinformation. The EO further placed requirements on the military and intelligence communities for safe and ethical use of AI, and called for action to address potential civil rights violations that could be caused by AI, such as discrimination, lack of access to healthcare, and housing bias. All those protections have been struck from federal law, as expected. The Republican Party's 2024 platform pledged to do just that, calling the AI EO "dangerous," and claiming it hindered innovation in the space by imposing "Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology." The President hasn't put anything substantial forward to protect Americans from harmful domestic AI production so far, with the Republican platform only saying that the party supports "AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing." With the canning of EO 14037, Trump not only scrapped the US's goal of transitioning half of passenger vehicles on American roads into zero-emissions vehicles (including battery electric, plug-in hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles) by 2030, but eliminated a number of planned vehicle standards as well. The Biden EO included provisions for the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency to establish new emissions, fuel economy, and fuel efficiency standards for passenger and heavy-duty vehicles, all of which are now eliminated as well. None of the standards were in effect yet, with the earliest planned for Model Year 2027 vehicles, so it's not clear whether the automotive industry will need to pivot that much in response. Under European Union regulations, all new cars and vans registered in the member states must be zero emission from 2035. However, the European motor industry has been calling for a reopening of the 2035 car CO law, with carmakers in the Industry for 2035 pressure group pushing to kill the combustion engine ban, signing an open letter to that effect in September last year. While the zero emissions Biden EO has been eliminated, another executive order signed by Trump yesterday, titled Unleashing American Energy, has taken steps to terminate the so-called Green New Deal in its entirety. The Trump EO orders all agencies to "immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)," with a particular callout for funds reserved for electric vehicle infrastructure development. Among other things the IRA and IIJA dedicated cash toward was funding of US national laboratories to help develop new energy technologies and help create a domestic supply chain for critical minerals and other green energy resources, which Trump called for in his Energy executive order. It's not clear how much of the work done using IRA and IIJA funds would be transferable to Trump's attempt to restart domestic energy production development in his name instead of Biden's. We contacted the White House to learn more about what elements of the two laws were being suspended, but didn't immediately hear back. Trump also signed several executive orders of his own on inauguration day that will definitely turn heads. Along with commuting the sentences of a number of individuals put in prison over the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capital to stop certification of Joe Biden's win over Trump in the 2020 election, Trump also pardoned everyone convicted of a crime related to the insurrection attempt and ordered the Attorney General to end all prosecutions and indictments of individuals yet to be convicted. Trump also ordered that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America, as he claimed he wanted to do during the presidential campaign. The same executive order also calls for renaming Mount Denali, the highest peak in the United States, back to Mount McKinley, with a concession for the Alaskan natives who have called the mountain Denali for centuries to get some other landmarks named "to honor their history and culture." The President also changed the rules around birthright citizenship, paused refugee admissions (while also shutting down the CBP One app set up by the Biden administration to handle asylum requests and canceling all scheduled appointments made via the app), suspended foreign aid for 90 days pending a review, expanded the federal death penalty, halted leasing and permitting for wind energy projects and has frozen hiring across the government - with the exception of the military, national security, public safety, and immigration enforcement. AnotherEO adds that the US will be withdrawing from the World Health Organization. Trump also declared another national emergency at the southern border and ordered the military to act domestically to secure it, which is likely to face legal challenges. Buckle up - it's going to be an interesting four years. ®

Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks

US President Donald Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Joe Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security. Biden's order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to US national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the US government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.