In his executive actions on day one of his presidency, Donald Trump rescinded an executive order Joe Biden signed in 2023 to establish safety guidelines for generative AI.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.
Biden’s action also included measures meant to protect workers and consumers. It commissioned a report on how AI might affect the labor market and asked agencies to develop practices for addressing AI-enabled fraud and discriminatory algorithms.
Donald Trump axed all that yesterday as he signed a flurry of new executive orders. One of his first actions was to rescind 78 Biden-era executive actions, including Executive Order 14110 on “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
Trump has made the development of new AI tools a priority for his administration. His inauguration was stacked with tech heavyweights, some of whom donated to the president’s inauguration budget. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Shou Zi Chew, Sundar Pichai, and Sam Altman were all reported in attendance yesterday.
The stage is now set for a showdown over the European Union’s AI Act that passed last year, which created transparency requirements and bars certain uses of AI.
Other measures the Biden administration put in place to boost AI development in the US may have a better shot at surviving. Before leaving office this month, Biden announced a new regulatory framework restricting some international sharing of AI chips and models. Biden also issued an executive order in January meant to speed the development of AI data centers on federal land.