Mar 21, 2025 10:58 AM IST
Trump prioritized AI development since taking office, pushing aside concerns of models hallucinating, producing deepfakes, or destroying human jobs.
Top tech firms like OpenAI, Meta, and Google are reportedly pushing the Donald Trump administration to loosen rules on building artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that this is the only way the US can maintain an edge and compete with China.
Donald Trump had made accelerating AI development a priority at all costs since taking office in January, pushing aside concerns about models hallucinating, producing deepfakes, or destroying human jobs.
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The administration has now invited industry leaders to share their policy vision, emphasising that the US must maintain its position as the “undeniable leader in AI technology” with minimal investor constraints, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The industry submissions will ultimately end up shaping the White House’s AI action plan, which is expected to come out this summer.
What OpenAI, Meta, and Google had to say
OpenAI’s submission called for not restricting access to online data and highlighted that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is a huge competitive threat and that American AI development must be “protected from both autocratic powers that would take people’s freedoms away, and layers of laws and bureaucracy that would prevent our realising them,” according to the report.
Meta touted its open Llama AI model as part of the fight for American technological superiority, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg even advocating for retaliatory tariffs against European regulatory efforts.
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Google’s input focused on infrastructure investment for AI’s substantial energy requirements and opposed state-by-state regulations in the US.
“The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety,” the report quoted Vice President JD Vance as having told world leaders at a recent AI summit in Paris.
However, this had unsettled international partners, especially Europe which had proudly established the EU AI Act as a new standard for keeping the technology in check.
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Tech companies meanwhile, are capitalizing on this, seeking the freedom to develop AI technologies that they claimed have been too constrained under the Biden administration.
One of Trump’s first executive actions after taking office was to dismantle Biden’s policies, which had proposed guardrails for powerful AI models and directed agencies to prepare to oversee the change, according to the report.
