Dive Brief:
- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on AI Thursday, revoking past policies on the technology and setting the stage for a new direction in federal oversight.
- The presidential directive tasked agencies with reviewing AI policies and removing obstacles that don’t align with promoting “human flourishing, economic competitiveness and national security,” according to the announcement.
- The executive order directed the creation of an action plan to achieve the goals his campaign set out. Multiple advisors and several heads of departments and agencies will join to develop and deliver the plan in 180 days.
Dive Insight:
Despite not mentioning the technology in the inaugural address, the new administration has quickly set the stage for its approach to AI oversight.
The latest AI directive comes just two days after Trump kept his campaign promise to repeal former President Joe Biden’s October 2023 AI executive order. Trump announced a $500 billion, four-year effort to boost national AI infrastructure Tuesday, alongside leaders from OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.
The new administration is working to undo Biden-era decisions, which it categorized as “unnecessarily burdensome," according to a fact sheet published Thursday.
While businesses will likely have to wait until the end of the 180-day period for a better sense of the administration’s action plan, analysts expect President Trump to deploy a light regulatory touch and reliance on private-sector partnerships.
Executives should “prepare now to meet the future technology product and service demands of the U.S. federal government and its respective agencies,” Gartner said in a research note.
In addition, leaders should assess the opportunities or threats that a revamped federal culture around advanced analytics and automation may present.
CIOs should also keep an eye on evolving state-level AI rules and regulations. Businesses operating globally are facing an even more complex patchwork as regulations shift.
