President Trump’s AI Executive Orders: Fewer Rules, More Influence From Silicon Valley

• Donald Trump’s executive orders focusing on AI have played into the wants of Big Tech.
• Prominent tech leaders have backtracked on their previous criticisms of Trump.
• The word “safety” does not appear anywhere in Trump’s AI executive order.

The future of artificial intelligence has shifted dramatically since President Donald Trump took power.

In his first days in office, Trump signed a sweeping executive order that looked to revoke Joe Biden’s policies focused on AI and safe development.

The order was accompanied by the announcement of Stargate, a government-backed project involving the world’s leading AI companies.

In just two weeks in office, Trump has switched the regulatory direction of AI, which looks to benefit Big Tech firms.

Over the next four years, $500 billion will be invested in U.S. AI infrastructure.

Donald Trump’s Sweeping AI Executive Order

On Jan. 23, President Trump signed an executive order  calling for AI development without “ideological bias.”

The government claims it will track down and review all previous AI actions made by the Biden administration.

If any AI policies are found to be hindering innovation, they should be reviewed and revoked, the order states.

The executive order said AI should “promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

Within the order, Trump has called for the rapid deployment of an in-depth AI action plan in 180 days, stating that America needs to develop AI systems “free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas.”

A Safety-Focused U-Turn

President Biden issued numerous directives aimed at promoting safety during his four years as President.

His main executive order in 2023 required developers of high-risk AI systems, such as OpenAI and Meta, to conduct rigorous safety assessments.

These assessments were not favored by Big Tech, which felt that they were a hurdle to innovation and stifled its competitiveness against other countries.

“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.

Silicon Valley’s Influence

Trump’s light-touch approach to safety has been extremely popular among leading tech companies.

The world’s most prominent tech executives have followed in Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s path in becoming close allies with Trump.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, once a harsh critic, has heavily switched his views on the returning President.

“Watching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him (i wish i had done more of my own thinking and definitely fell in the npc trap),” Altman wrote on X.

This comment came shortly after the announcement of Stargate, a government-backed project that will grant hundreds of billions of dollars to increase AI infrastructure in the U.S.

“The speed at which Trump has overridden the [AI] directives from Biden suggests he is being influenced by large tech executives without really assessing the impact short or especially long term,” Derren Nisbet, CEO of AI testing company Virtuoso, told CCN.

However, Nisbet believes that the removal of red tape is not likely to affect safety.

He added that regulation of keeping people safe “should be directed at criminal elements rather than large corporations.”