On July 23, 2025, the United States released the "Artificial Intelligence Action Plan," a strategic initiative aimed at reinforcing America’s leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain. Building on President Trump’s executive order issued in January, the plan seeks to eliminate barriers to U.S. dominance by fostering market-driven growth and adopting a light-touch governance.
This marks a notable shift from the previous administration’s focus on government coordination and risk mitigation. The plan emphasizes deregulation, infrastructure enhancement, and giving the private sector a pivotal role. The plan is structured around three core pillars, encompassing over 90 actions to be executed in the coming months.
The first pillar prioritizes accelerating AI innovation, with the federal government committed to removing cumbersome regulations that impede private-sector progress. By encouraging industry participation and promoting open-source and open-weight AI models, the plan lowers barriers to entry for startups and researchers.
It underscores the importance of safeguarding free speech and American values, directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to revise its AI Risk Management Framework by eliminating content related to disinformation or ideological biases. To broaden AI adoption, particularly in critical yet slowly adopting sectors like healthcare, the plan proposes the establishment of regulatory sandboxes or AI Centers of Excellence.
These platforms would enable researchers, startups, and established firms to rapidly deploy and test AI tools, fostering innovation and practical application.
The second pillar concentrates on building robust AI infrastructure within the United States to support the development and deployment of AI technologies while countering foreign threats. Key measures include streamlining permitting processes for data centers, semiconductor factories, and energy facilities, leveraging federal lands to expedite construction, and introducing categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act to accelerate environmental approvals.
To address the demand for skilled labor, the plan encourages collaboration between state governments and industry to develop targeted training programs, ensuring a workforce capable of sustaining AI infrastructure growth.
The third pillar focuses on leading international AI diplomacy and security, aiming to expand the global adoption of U.S.-developed AI systems, computing hardware, and technical standards through international collaboration. A central strategy involves exporting a comprehensive U.S. AI package—comprising hardware, models, software, and applications—to allied nations, alongside coordinated export controls, particularly for semiconductor subsystems.
The plan envisions the creation of an "AI Alliance," encouraging participating countries to rely on U.S.-developed infrastructure to enhance America’s strategic influence. It also maintains a focus on assessing national security risks associated with advanced AI models, integrating these evaluations into broader policy frameworks to ensure a secure global AI ecosystem.