David Sacks, the White House “Tsar” for artificial intelligence policy, talks to President Trump as he signed a series of decrees in the oval office on January 23, 2025.
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Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
President Trump entered the stunning white house dozens of actions taken by his predecessor.
But he found at least one measure of the last minute Joe Biden that he really wants to keep: an executive decree which designates more federal land to AI data centers.
“I would like to see federal lands open for data centers. I think they will be very important,” said Trump, telling journalists that it looks like something he would support.
It is a rare common ground between the two administrations, signaling the growing importance of artificial intelligence. Biden described it as “the most substantial technology of our time” in its farewell address.
Trump signed a new decree on Thursday that will launch the development of an action plan to “maintain and improve the domination of the American AI”. He was flanked by David Sacks, an entrepreneur and technological podcaster that Trump appointed as his “Tsar”.
Earlier this week, Trump invited the CEO of Openai, Softbank and Oracle to the White House to announce what they said could possibly be an investment of $ 500 billion in AI data centers in the states- United – A project they call Stargate.
The work on the project was well underway in Texas before Trump took up his duties – but business leaders were impatient to give credit to Trump for having announced the investment.
“This monumental company is a resounding declaration of confidence in the potential of America under a new president,” said Trump. “We want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor and others are competitors … We have to have this thing built.”
But Trump does not like all the work of Biden on AI
This does not mean that Trump takes all Biden’s work on AI’s priorities. Day 1, Trump repealed the first AI of Biden executive decree From October 2023, a scan measurement which provided a certain regulation on the development and tests of the AI, and addressed the questions of equity and discrimination in technology.
Alondra Nelson – who worked on AI policy within the framework of the Biden administration and is now a member of the Center for American Progress – says that the decision was short. She hopes more clarity on the global vision of the AI of the new White House.
“It seems that we have difficulty at the start of the Trump administration to reach a place where we can think of the AI ecosystem on a chess board and the wider strategy,” said Nelson.
The Trump Administration should be more practical to the regulation of AI, said John Villasenor of the Institute of Technology, Law and Policy of the UCLA – but he said that it was still in its infancy.
Villasenor expects the approach of the Trump administration on AI to differ from what he called a story “based on fear” of Biden’s White House, which focused on risks And to prevent the negative results of technology, similar to the way in which European nations are approaching AI.
There is an additional element of the billionaire drama
In the meantime, there has already been a conflict on the announcement linked to the AI that Trump made.
On Tuesday, after the CEO of technology deceived their investment, Trump’s advisor, Elon Musk, criticized the announcement. Musk, the richest man in the world, has Tesla, SpaceX and the X social media platform.
“They don’t really have the money”, published on X.com. “Softbank has much less than $ 10 billion. I have it in good authority.” The CEO of Openai, Sam Altman, retaliated on the platform saying that it was bad.
Trump raised the shoulders of the dispute on Thursday, explaining that Musk and Altman just don’t get along. “I also have some people of people,” said Trump.
