Trump’s ‘America-First‘ AI Action Plan will accelerate innovation. Ready?

Why it matters

America’s AI Action Plan focuses largely on deregulation and an open-source environment to spur significant AI development for big Silicon Valley tech players as well as U.S.-based start-ups. It also continues to rely on the private sector to do much of the heavy lifting: Earlier this year, OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX launched Stargate, a $500 billion effort to expand U.S. AI capacity. And this month, private companies pledged some $90 billion to build data centers and upgrade energy infrastructure.

The plan also calls for the government to partner with U.S. tech companies to make “full stack AI export packages” — AI hardware and software — available to allies as a way to have U.S. AI models become the global standard. While the plan represents the possibility of a boon for U.S. businesses and could set the stage for growth and innovation across several sectors ─ including tech, energy, cyber, healthcare, public sector, and manufacturing ─ businesses should prepare for potential challenges, including:

• Increased competition: Deregulation could intensify competition, especially for smaller firms entering the AI space.
• Compliance: Companies must align with security and export control measures to avoid penalties. Reportedly, more than 90 actions will be part of the plan, each one carrying a set of known and unknown impacts across a variety of sectors.
• Talent shortages: Despite workforce initiatives and enhanced focus on AI skills and training, businesses may still struggle to find highly specialized AI professionals.

What they say

Lisa Su, President and CEO, Advanced Micro Devices, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor company

“For the U.S. to lead in AI, we have to run fast, and the AI action plan is a great way of just laying out all the various pieces that will be helpful for us to run fast. It is a great day for those of us, like us, who are really trying to get technology adopted as fast as possible, in partnership with the government.”

What we say

While this plan is extremely broad, it is also a good first step. The focus on AI adoption and “try it first” mentality should accelerate AI innovation and investment in the public and private sectors. With it, the administration is spurring increased competition by addressing the cost of compute required for AI applications and providing guidance on standards and metrics. This plan should continue to build AI momentum. If we stay true to a guiding principle, trustworthiness, what's outlined in the plan may well become the universal standard driving the next ‘industrial’ revolution. If firms are not already building a foundation for AI, it is time to act.

The bottom line

America’s AI Action Plan is a package of policy recommendations and initiatives that should put AI and innovation on the docket for U.S. companies. Business leaders need to be aware of this systematic push, coming standardization, and the increased competition coming from this plan. The focus on infrastructure, open source, security, interoperability, AI controls, large language models, compute affordability for startups and academic institutions will establish base standards to speed innovation and adoption. This is no time for businesses to sit on the sidelines. There is going to be a big AI push across all industries, and this plan provides focus, structure and, perhaps most importantly, funding for AI innovation to shift or redefine industries. If organizations have not already assessed their readiness for AI, conducted a pilot, or considered how to compete in an AI world, it is time to start.