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Trump's ‘AI Action Plan' smoothes the way for a bulked-up electrical grid
Trump's ‘AI Action Plan' smoothes the way for a bulked-up electrical grid

Fast Company

time9 hours ago

  • Business
  • Fast Company

Trump's ‘AI Action Plan' smoothes the way for a bulked-up electrical grid

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company's weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here. With the 'AI Action Plan' Trump pays back his Silicon Valley allies The Trump administration on Wednesday released its AI Action Plan—a 28-page blueprint designed to accelerate America's AI industry and extend its global influence. Authored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 'AI Czar' David Sacks, and science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios, the document outlines a suite of tech-friendly directives, ranging from discouraging state-level AI regulation to opening public lands for new data center construction. That hands-off approach reflects the Trump administration's broader stance toward tech: minimal regulation in exchange for political support. To that end, the 'action plan' directs all federal agencies to delete regulations from earlier administrations that could 'unnecessarily hinder AI development or deployment.' Fighting state AI laws The 'plan' doesn't reprise the ban on state AI regulation that was struck from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as some had feared. But it tries to frustrate state AI regulation by instructing federal agencies to condition funding on how friendly the state's regulatory environment is to AI R&D. The plan also issues a vague threat against states by asking the FCC to look at how state AI regulations might 'interfere with the agency's ability to carry out its obligations and authorities under the Communications Act of 1934.' (That 'Act' established the FCC and gave it control of broadcast licenses, wireless spectrum, and compliance enforcement.) The Trump administration also wants to shrink the role of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in protecting consumers from the excesses of the tech industry. The AI plan asks the FTC to 'modify or set-aside' any final orders, consent decrees, and injunctions against tech companies that might 'unduly burden AI innovation.' Further, it asks the FTC to review all investigations begun during the Biden years 'to ensure that they do not advance theories of liability that unduly burden AI innovation.' Readying the grid for AI Anthropic estimates the U.S. power grid will need an additional 50 gigawatts—roughly the output of 50 Hoover Dams, or enough to power 40 million homes—by 2027 to meet the energy demands of new data centers. The Trump administration appears keenly aware of this challenge. The new plan renews a Biden-era initiative asking agencies that manage federal lands to 'identify sites suited to large-scale development' of data centers. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has been promoting this idea for months, noting that his agency controls around 500 million acres of public lands and estimates $8 trillion in coal reserves beneath them. Could the U.S. decide to expand production of dirty fuels like coal in the interest of powering new AI data centers? The plan doesn't specify, saying only that the U.S. 'must prevent the premature decommissioning of critical power generation resources and explore innovative ways to harness existing capacity.' It also advocates for investment in alternative power sources like geothermal, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion. It wasn't too long ago that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was urging the Senate to regulate AI. Now, most in the AI space warn that any binding regulations on how companies develop AI are premature and likely to nip innovation in the bud. Some even argue that it would be immoral to slow down AI R&D because the technology might soon help cure cancer or eliminate poverty. Trump's AI plan is clearly an expression of that world view, and the fulfillment of a promise he made to the tech industry when campaigning for a second term. The GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will make big tech companies flush with cash Analysts from Morgan Stanley predicted on Monday that the GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill Act could have some magical effects on the balance sheets of the biggest tech (read: AI) companies. The bill, which was signed into law by the president on July 4, contains a number of tax breaks that will considerably increase the free cash flow of tech companies, the analysts say, especially those that spend heavily on R&D and new infrastructure. For many tech companies, that means AI research and building data centers. advertisement Under the revised tax code, tech companies can now apply retroactive write-offs for past R&D spending, recovering billions in taxes. The bill also allows for full, upfront deductions on infrastructure investments—provisions clearly designed with big tech in mind. Meanwhile, the corporate tax rate remains steady at 21%. These incentives could be worth tens of billions to leading firms, Morgan Stanley estimates. Analysts expect Google, Microsoft, and Apple to benefit most in the short term by accelerating R&D deductions. For Meta and Amazon, the gains may be more evenly distributed over the next two to three years. Pew: Google's AI search results yield far fewer click-throughs, ad views New research from the Pew Research Center suggests trouble ahead for Google's core business. After tracking real-time user behavior, Pew found that users shown an AI-generated 'AI Overview' were less likely to click links to external websites than users shown traditional search results. That finding supports concerns among publishers that AI-enhanced search results are reducing site traffic.

Trump's AI plan: Pull back restraints on tech
Trump's AI plan: Pull back restraints on tech

Yahoo

time12 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Trump's AI plan: Pull back restraints on tech

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled its AI action plan, a package of initiatives and policy recommendations meant to cement the United States as a global leader in a technology that's expected to be as influential as the internet itself. The White House largely seeks to achieve that lofty, Silicon Valley-friendly goal through scaling back AI regulation — with a notable, MAGA-friendly exception that will work to eliminate political 'bias' in AI. The plan includes three pillars: accelerating innovation, building out AI infrastructure in the United States and making American hardware and software the 'standard' platform for AI innovations built around the world. The plan also recommends that large language models procured by the federal government are 'objective and free from top-down ideological bias,' according to a 28-page plan published by the White House Wednesday. It's the Trump administration's latest push to expand AI infrastructure and investments in the United States and serves as another indication that staying ahead of China in AI is a top priority for the administration. 'It's a global competition now to lead in artificial intelligence,' said White House AI Czar David Sacks on a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning. 'AI is a revolutionary technology that's going to have profound ramifications for both the economy and for national security, so it is just very important that America continue to be the dominant power in AI.' The announcement came before Trump outlined his AI plans during an event in Washington Wednesday evening called Winning the AI Race. The event was hosted by the 'All-in Podcast,' a show about business and politics co-hosted by Sacks among other industry figures, and the Hill & Valley Forum, a group that hosts a tech and policy conference founded by Jacob Helberg, previously a commissioner for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and investors Delian Asparouhov and Christian Garrett. 'Whether we like it or not, we're suddenly engaged in a fast-paced competition to build and define this groundbreaking technology that will determine so much about the future of civilization itself,' Trump said at the event. 'America is the country that started the AI race. And as president of the United States, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it.' Trump also expanded on his desire to limit restrictions and regulations on AI development, saying the industry is 'a beautiful baby that's born.' 'We have to grow that baby and let that baby thrive. We can't stop it. We can't stop it with politics, we can't stop it with foolish rules,' Trump said, although he added that he doesn't like the name 'artificial intelligence' because 'I don't like anything that's artificial.' The action plan The plan involves removing what administration officials described as 'bureaucratic red tape' to AI development and is based on recommendations from the private sector, as well as academia and civil society groups, White House officials said. It also calls for streamlining permitting for data centers, semiconductor manufacturing facilities and energy infrastructure. And the government will partner with US tech companies to make 'full stack AI export packages' — AI models, hardware and software — available to American ally countries. That's in an effort to make US technology the global standard, something Silicon Valley leaders have called for to ensure the United States remains an AI leader. Michael Krastios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, said on the conference call that all policies outlined in the action plan can be executed in the next six months to a year. Lawmakers and tech leaders have been divided on how AI should be regulated, highlighting the struggle to balance safety with speed. Soon after taking office, Trump repealed a sweeping executive order passed by former President Joe Biden that sought to implement some safeguards around AI development and use. More recently, the US Senate voted on July 1 to remove a provision from Republicans' sweeping domestic policy legislation, for example, that would have prevented states from enforcing AI-related laws for 10 years. Tech leaders have argued that state-level rules or a patchwork of regulation could slow innovation and deployment. But those who opposed the provision worried that it would hamper efforts to keep AI safe and hold tech companies accountable. However, the AI action plan recommends that the federal government 'consider a state's AI regulatory climate' when considering how to distribute federal funding for AI-related programs. At the Wednesday evening event, Trump went even further, saying, 'we have to have a single federal standard, not 50 different states regulating this industry … you can't have a state with standards that are so high it's going to hold you up.' Some have criticized the Trump Administration's agenda for prioritizing the interests of the tech industry over AI safety, in the face of concerns about AI taking jobs or harming children, among others. A coalition of privacy advocates, labor unions and other organizations are calling for a People's Action Plan to counter the Trump administration's proposals. Its signatories include the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Writers Guild of America East and research institute the AI Now Institute. A senior White House official said that more than 10,000 responses from 'diverse' individuals and sectors were submitted in the White House's request for information to inform the plan. The plan recommends updating federal procurement guidelines so the government contracts only with large language model developers that 'ensure their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias.' But experts have said enforcing such a rule could be challenging since it's unclear what the definition of 'bias' is. That could also slow down innovation, because tech companies looking to secure government contracts will likely have new guidelines to adhere to. 'This type of thing, which creates all kinds of concerns and liability and complexity for the people developing these models — all of a sudden they have to slow down,' said Oren Etzioni, former CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a Seattle-based nonprofit research institute. Investing in AI Wednesday's plan follows a series of AI and tech-related investments and announcements from private businesses made throughout Trump's second term thus far. On July 15, the president announced an investment of more than $90 billion from companies across tech, energy and finance to turn Pennsylvania into a hub for artificial intelligence. He kicked off his second term with a $500 billion AI infrastructure project called Stargate, which involves a collaboration between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison. He also said he would roll back Biden-era AI export restrictions on AI chips, and Nvidia was recently allowed to resume selling its H20 AI chips to China. More broadly, Trump has been pressuring tech giants to expand their US operations in a bid to bring back US manufacturing, create jobs and reduce reliance on China for tech production, although experts have been skeptical that such efforts will be successful. He's touted investments from companies like Apple and TSMC as political victories, although it's possible that at least some of those plans were in place regardless of Trump's push. Collaboration between the tech industry and the White House isn't new; it's happened under the Biden administration and long before then. But tech CEOs have been noticeably present through Trump's first six months in office. Tech giants and the White House have come together over a shared goal: Staying ahead of China's AI ambitions. Chinese startup DeepSeek rattled the markets and Silicon Valley earlier this year with its powerful yet supposedly cheap-to-train R1 model, sparking concern that China may be further ahead than expected. The challenge of maintaining an edge in AI while prioritizing safety has come up on Capitol Hill before; tech leaders from Microsoft, OpenAI, CoreWeave and AMD addressed the issue in a Senate committee hearing in May. 'The number one factor that will define whether the United States or China wins this race is whose technology is most broadly adopted in the rest of the world,' Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith said during that hearing. Sign in to access your portfolio

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