Unleashing AI in America: Trump’s 2025 Action Plan and Its National Impact

WAI CONTENT TEAM
Oct 13
5 min read

The America’s AI Action Plan (2025) sets a federal strategy to accelerate U.S. leadership in AI through deregulation, infrastructure investment, and international engagement. It promotes rapid innovation with expanded data centers, innovation sandboxes, and targeted funding. At the same time the AI Action Plan creates tension with state-level regulations like California’s SB 53 and Colorado’s passed but delayed AI Act. Early impacts are evident in growing AI infrastructure and evolving state policies, positioning the U.S. to remain competitive globally while safeguarding national security.

This article is written by Dina Blikshteyn, a partner and Co-Chair of AI and Deep Learning Practice Group and Haynes Boone, LLP. Dina focuses her practice on intellectual property portfolio management, post-grant proceedings, and AI Governance. Dina also regularly speaks and publishes on issues related to AI.

Introduction

America’s AI Action Plan (2025) marks a decisive shift in how the United States approaches artificial intelligence. Issued in July 2025, it builds on President Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which overturned many of the regulatory frameworks created by President Biden’s 2023 Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI. While Biden’s order focused on oversight, emphasizing algorithmic accountability, civil rights protections, and safety reviews for high‑risk AI systems, Trump’s administration contends that such measures slowed innovation and limited U.S. competitiveness, particularly against countries who also move aggressively in AI development. The 2025 Action Plan replaces those restrictions with a pro‑innovation, market‑driven philosophy, positioning the U.S. federal government as a facilitator of AI growth rather than its regulator. It organizes the administration’s vision around three pillars: accelerating AI innovation, building American AI infrastructure, and leading in international AI diplomacy and security.

Pillar I — Unleashing American Innovation

At the heart of the AI Action Plan is a call to unlock the full potential of American innovation. This pillar adopts a light‑touch regulatory approach, directing federal agencies to remove what the administration characterizes as “ideological or bureaucratic barriers” to progress. It prioritizes accelerating private‑sector R&D, expanding access to federal data and computing resources, and fostering partnerships among industry, academia, and government. Rather than imposing new compliance mandates, the plan invests in talent by emphasizing STEM education, apprenticeships, and technical training to build the next generation of AI leaders. In addition, AI innovation sandboxes allow companies and states to experiment with emerging systems in controlled environments, balancing the need for rapid experimentation with minimal risk. To minimize regulation at the state level, the plan also conditions federal support by withholding funding from states with burdensome AI rules. The overarching goal is to ensure that innovation thrives through freedom, competition, and entrepreneurial drive, rather than government oversight.

Pillar II — Securing American Interests

The second pillar focuses on building the physical and technological backbone necessary for AI leadership. It emphasizes expanding domestic data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, and energy infrastructure to ensure U.S. has computing power required for frontier AI systems. Streamlined permitting and regulatory reforms are intended to accelerate the development of high‑security data centers for both commercial and military use, while strengthening resilience and cybersecurity across critical infrastructure. By investing in secure, scalable, and resilient infrastructure, this pillar seeks to sustain AI innovation, protect sensitive technologies, and maintain strategic advantage in the global AI race.

Pillar III — Leading in International AI Diplomacy and Security

The third pillar underscores America’s role as a global leader in AI governance, standards, and security. It aims to project U.S. influence by promoting AI adoption among allies and partners and encouraging reliance on secure, American‑developed technologies rather than adversarial systems. The plan calls for coordinated diplomacy to shape international AI norms, standards, and regulations, countering efforts by rival nations to dominate global governance. It also emphasizes export controls and safeguards for critical AI hardware and software to prevent sensitive technologies from reaching adversaries. Through diplomatic engagement, secure technology exports, and strategic coordination with allies, this pillar seeks to strengthen both U.S. influence and global security in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Impacts

Federal vs. State Regulation: A Potential Conflict

The AI Action Plan articulates a federal vision that prioritizes deregulation and market‑driven innovation. It directs federal agencies to condition or withhold AI‑related funding from states with what it deems overly burdensome regulations, signaling a preference for minimal regulatory interference to accelerate development. This approach is intended, in part, to prevent states from overregulating AI and creating a fragmented patchwork of state-level AI laws under a federal umbrella that encourages AI deregulation and rapid technological advancement.

California’s recently enacted Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act (SB 53) illustrates how states may move in a different direction. Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 29, 2025, the law establishes a comprehensive framework for transparency, safety, and accountability in the development and deployment of advanced AI models that is more in line with Biden’s now repealed executive order. It requires companies that use large‑scale computing resources for AI model training to disclose risk‑mitigation plans, report safety test results, and notify the California Office of Emergency Services of critical safety incidents. The law also provides protections for AI whistleblowers, safeguarding employees who report regulatory violations or catastrophic risks.

This divergence sets up a potential clash between federal and state priorities: the federal plan seeking to accelerate innovation through deregulation and infrastructure support, whereas SB 53 emphasizes strict oversight and transparency. Companies operating in California may face heightened compliance obligations while also navigating federal incentives and expectations geared toward rapid development.

Colorado has taken a different path. The Colorado AI Act passed in 2024 and establishing a consumer‑protection framework for high‑risk AI systems focusing on transparency and accountability. It requires developers and deployers to assess and disclose risks of algorithmic discrimination, implement risk‑management policies, and provide consumers with rights to appeal and correct decisions made by AI systems. Following significant lobbying by more than 100 companies and organizations, and approximately one month after the 2025 Action Plan, the Colorado legislature moved to delay implementation from February 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026. The delay provides time to refine the legislation, address industry concerns, and consider potential conflicts with federal priorities.

Data Center Construction

The AI Action Plan has catalyzed data center growth across the United States. By reducing regulatory barriers, streamlining permitting, and providing incentives for private investment, it has created an impetus for companies to build high‑capacity, secure, and resilient data centers nationwide. Many states have responded by approving new projects and upgrading existing infrastructure. These investments support the computational demands of advanced AI models and help modernize the aging U.S. electric grid.

Conclusion

The AI Action Plan represents a pivotal moment in shaping the nation’s AI landscape. By prioritizing deregulation, infrastructure expansion, and international leadership, the plan aims to maintain U.S. competitiveness in a rapidly evolving global ecosystem. Although passed less than three months ago, its effects are already evident in the surge of data center construction and the reshaping of state‑level AI policy. At the same time, the tension between federal priorities and state regulations, as illustrated by California’s SB 53 and Colorado’s delayed AI Act, underscores the ongoing challenge of balancing innovation with public safety and accountability. The plan’s success will hinge on effectively managing these dynamics to ensure the United States remains a global leader in AI innovation while safeguarding public safety, economic interests, and national security.

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If you have news relevant to our global WAI community or expertise in AI and law, we invite you to contribute to the WAI Legal Insights Blog. To explore this opportunity, please contact WAI editors Silvia A. Carretta, WAI Chief Legal Officer (via LinkedIn or silvia@womeninai.co), or Dina Blikshteyn, (dina@womeninai.co).

Silvia A. Carretta and Dina Blikshteyn

- Editors