Trump’s AI Plan Drives Deregulation, Data Center Growth & Exports

Key Takeaways:

• Deregulation and funding leverage: Agencies are ordered to revoke rules seen as slowing AI and tie funding to state policy compliance.
  

• Ideological screening for contracts: Federal procurement must exclude AI systems deemed “biased,” favoring those aligned with “objective truth.”
  

• Fast-tracked infrastructure: Data center permitting and grid expansion will bypass environmental review hurdles, using federal land where possible.
  

• AI workforce push: The plan includes national apprenticeships, vocational pipelines, and tax-free employer incentives for AI skill training.
  

• Export and enforcement strategy: The U.S. will export full-stack AI systems while strengthening chip export control and monitoring for evasion.

A New AI Race—and a New Federal Playbook

The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, released July 23, casts artificial intelligence as a race the United States must win—not just to compete economically, but to maintain global leadership and security. “Breakthroughs in these fields have the potential to reshape the global balance of power,” the document reads, framing the stakes in terms of military dominance, industrial revitalization, and national sovereignty.

The 28-page plan replaces the Biden-era regulatory approach with a blueprint focused on removing constraints, building infrastructure, and advancing U.S. interests abroad. It reflects priorities long advocated by the tech sector and marks a notable shift in how the federal government will engage with AI moving forward.

“We finally have a real AI strategy to compete with China, which has had a strategy out there for years,” said Simeon Bochev, co-founder of Compute Exchange, a startup working to build a marketplace for computing power.

Deregulation as Industrial Policy

A central feature of the plan is the dismantling of what the administration calls “bureaucratic red tape.” Agencies are instructed to identify and eliminate regulations that delay or obstruct AI deployment, with a particular focus on the effects of Biden’s Executive Order 14110, which President Trump rescinded upon taking office.

Under the new framework:

• The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will collect public input on outdated or obstructive AI regulations.

• The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will lead an agency-wide review of guidance documents, memos, and federal orders that may inhibit development.

• The FCC and FTC are instructed to reassess their authority in light of new state-level AI laws and scale back investigations that might stifle innovation.

The plan doesn’t stop at federal regulations. It ties federal support to state policy compliance—requiring agencies to consider whether a state has adopted what the plan calls “onerous” AI laws when awarding grants or discretionary funding. The goal, the plan states, is to “maximize returns on federal investment” by avoiding jurisdictions that could block or slow AI adoption.

Procurement: No Federal Dollars for “Woke” AI

A newly proposed federal contracting standard would screen AI systems for ideological content. Agencies must revise procurement guidelines to ensure that large language models (LLMs) acquired by the government are “objective and free from top-down ideological bias.”

To operationalize this:

• The Commerce Department is directed to revise NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework, eliminating references to “misinformation,” climate change, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

• The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) will publish assessments of foreign frontier models, particularly those developed in China, to evaluate ideological alignment with adversarial governments.

While the administration frames this move as a defense of truth and neutrality, the approach may open new conflict lines between industry and federal buyers. Axios described the move as likely to provoke “endless conflicts between tech firms and rulers” over what constitutes neutrality.

Infrastructure Build-Out on Federal Land

To support domestic AI growth, the plan proposes sweeping reforms to federal permitting. Many of the projects it envisions—chip foundries, hyperscale data centers, and new energy infrastructure—would otherwise be delayed by environmental or zoning review.

The administration proposes:

• New categorical exclusions under NEPA for data centers and energy infrastructure.

• Expansion of the FAST-41 process, which allows qualifying projects—originally focused on surface transportation—to move through federal review faster via a centralized system.

• Use of federal land for data centers and power generation sites.

• Reduced requirements under the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, with the goal of speeding development across agency jurisdictions.

The Energy Department’s PermitAI program will be expanded to use AI tools to accelerate environmental reviews—a notable irony in a plan that elsewhere downplays environmental oversight.

Building the Grid to Power AI

AI’s appetite for electricity is one of its least discussed but most urgent infrastructure challenges. The plan outlines a multi-phase approach to modernizing the U.S. power grid—arguing that without dramatic upgrades, AI development will be bottlenecked by energy constraints.

The strategy includes:

• Preventing premature shutdowns of traditional power sources to ensure grid stability.

• Integrating backup generation and dispatchable power sources like nuclear and geothermal.

• Encouraging large-scale consumers (such as data centers) to manage usage during peak demand.

Federal agencies are instructed to draft a national grid expansion blueprint, reform power markets, and realign incentives toward reliability and new generation.

Workforce and Education: Preparing for AI Labor Shifts

The plan’s authors stress that AI must support—not displace—American workers. While it predicts major disruption to industries and job functions, the document outlines an aggressive strategy to retrain and reskill the workforce.

Specific actions include:

• A national initiative to identify high-priority infrastructure jobs, such as electricians and HVAC specialists.

• Expanded apprenticeships and vocational programs, led by the Departments of Labor and Education.

• Tax-free educational assistance, with the Treasury Department directed to clarify that employer-provided AI training may qualify for Section 132 tax benefits.

• A new AI Workforce Research Hub, to assess labor impacts and inform future policy.

The plan also calls for AI skill-building across education—from middle school to graduate research programs—with a push to embed AI into K–12 STEM curricula, expand AI-specific training in community colleges, and support graduate fellowships tied to national research labs. The Department of Education is directed to evaluate AI-related learning gaps, while federal training dollars will be aligned with occupations expected to see high demand.

Open-Source AI and Compute Access

Recognizing the dominance of closed commercial models, the administration expresses strong support for open-source and open-weight AI systems. These models, the plan argues, enable startups, researchers, and government agencies to work securely with sensitive data and build trusted applications.

To support this:

• The NAIRR (National AI Research Resource) pilot will be expanded to include academic and small-business access to high-performance compute.

• Federal agencies will collaborate with hyperscalers to develop a financial marketplace for compute access—allowing shorter-term, on-demand usage for those without billion-dollar contracts.

• NTIA and NIST will lead convenings to promote adoption of open models among small and medium-sized businesses.

Open-weight systems, the plan notes, also serve a geostrategic purpose by providing an American standard that can be adopted internationally, countering foreign platforms.

National Security: From Deepfakes to Cyberattacks

Security is a recurring theme, particularly around the misuse of AI for deception or sabotage. The plan calls for new protections to secure infrastructure, respond to AI-related cyber threats, and safeguard forensic evidence.

Key proposals include:

• Creating an AI-ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center) to coordinate threat intelligence across sectors.

• Formalizing AI incident response protocols, integrating AI-specific vulnerabilities into DHS and agency playbooks.

• Launching an AI “hackathon” initiative, where academic teams stress-test government models for transparency, robustness, and adversarial resilience.

The Justice Department is instructed to issue guidance on AI-generated evidence and consider adopting standards like those under review by the Federal Rules of Evidence advisory committee.

Global Strategy: Export the Stack, Control the Chips

Internationally, the plan seeks to promote U.S. technology abroad while preventing adversaries—particularly China—from gaining access to critical components.

As TechCrunch reported, the plan sketches out foundational enforcement goals rather than detailed export policies, leaving implementation to be resolved in future executive orders.

The strategy includes:

• Exporting full-stack AI solutions—chips, models, and standards—through public-private partnerships.

• Using tools like the Foreign Direct Product Rule to penalize allies who attempt to supply restricted technologies in place of U.S. firms.

• Tracking advanced chip movement through location verification and expanded end-use monitoring.

• Plugging loopholes in export controls, particularly for sub-systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.

The State and Commerce Departments are tasked with creating a technology diplomacy strategy to align allies and enforce unified export policies.

Biosecurity and Frontier Risk Evaluation

In a forward-looking move, the plan addresses the threat of AI-enabled biological misuse. It requires federally funded research institutions to use DNA synthesis providers with strong screening protocols and calls for greater data sharing to detect malicious actors.

Frontier models will also be evaluated for their potential use in developing chemical, biological, radiological, or cyber weapons. These reviews will be led by CAISI and the national security agencies, with a goal of detecting risks before foreign actors can exploit them.

Q&A: Trump’s AI Action Plan

Q: What does the plan do about federal regulation?
A: It orders a sweeping rollback of federal rules that inhibit AI development and ties funding decisions to states’ regulatory climates.

Q: How will the government judge “biased” AI?
A: Agencies must exclude systems that display top-down ideological bias and revise procurement policies to favor “objective” outputs.

Q: How does the U.S. plan to handle chip exports?
A: The plan emphasizes enforcement through tracking, intelligence-sharing, and trade penalties if allies undercut U.S. controls.

Q: Is the plan just for big tech companies?
A: While major firms will benefit, the plan includes support for open-source models, academic compute access, and small-business adoption.

Q: What new funding or infrastructure is included?
A: It fast-tracks permits for data centers, expands workforce training, and promotes grid development with new energy sources.

What This Means

Trump’s AI Action Plan marks a decisive shift in U.S. AI policy. It dismantles federal safeguards in favor of industry acceleration, ties funding to ideological and regulatory alignment, and reframes AI as a tool of global influence and national strength.

For the tech industry, the plan opens vast opportunities—from faster permits and federal contracts to expanded export channels. Companies like Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI—already lobbying for many of these reforms—stand to gain significantly.

For U.S. workers, the plan offers a workforce roadmap built around training and adaptation. But its long-term success will depend on how well those programs scale in the face of automation-driven disruption.

Internationally, the plan signals an aggressive U.S. posture—exporting American standards, tightening chip controls, and confronting China in both technology and diplomacy. Compared to Europe’s rights-based AI laws or China’s centralized tech strategy, the U.S. is betting on speed, scale, and deregulated leadership.

The challenge now lies in execution. If the plan’s sweeping directives remain symbolic, its ambitions may stall. But if implemented aggressively, this document could reshape not only the U.S. AI landscape—but the global AI order.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.