Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
In the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, no other tech policy area has transformed as much as AI.
Why it matters: Long gone are the days of putting safety and human rights at the front of AI policy conversations. Now the focus is squarely on accelerating innovation, cutting red tape and beating China.
- That attitude permeates everything from how AI companies deploy their new models to how AI is used by the government itself.
Here are some of the most notable AI developments in President Trump's first 100 days.
AI executive orders scrapped and replaced: The Trump administration has done away with former President Biden's executive orders on AI and is forming its own AI "action plan."
- That's looking like it will tilt heavily in big AI companies' favor around model deployment, copyright and export controls.
- The focus on AI safety is now all but dead in D.C.
- Vice President Vance kicked off this new era of AI in the U.S. with his speech in Paris in February: "The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety. It will be won by building — from reliable power plants to the manufacturing facilities that can produce the chips of the future."
- What's next: The administration's deadline for its AI action plan is July 22.
China tensions: Relations with Beijing are more fraught than ever amid tariff hikes and Chinese tech scrutiny as the U.S. races to beat China as the global leader in AI.
- TikTok whiplash began as soon as Trump took office as the app briefly went dark then reappeared on stores.
- The president has now signed two executive orders delaying the ban after the administration missed deadlines to strike a TikTok deal with U.S. buyers and China.
- The Trump administration is also considering restricting DeepSeek from buying Nvidia AI chips.
- DeepSeek is poised to be the new TikTok as data concerns in Congress ramp up.
Hill restart: The Republican majority is essentially starting over on AI, with an America-first, innovation-at-all-costs attitude to mirror the Trump administration.
- Under the Biden administration, a bipartisan Senate working group hosted a series of closed-door roundtables with tech and AI executives along with civil society groups to kick off AI policymaking.
- That effort didn't amount to much, with no legislative package passing.
- Lawmakers say they learned a lot about AI, but they're back to square one when it comes to passing legislation — save for the TAKE IT DOWN Act, the AI deepfakes bill backed by first lady Melania Trump that's now heading to the president's desk.
DOGE slashing AI work: Elon Musk's DOGE has turned tech and science agencies inside out as employees have been fired, grants have been rolled back and budgets have been slashed.
- The director of NSF resigned, and the agency has halted and cut grants.
- NIST has been gutted, particularly its CHIPS office and AI Safety Institute.
- DOGE has effectively shut down the CFPB, which was studying Big Tech and financial technology along with serving as the watchdog for how financial companies are using AI in customer-facing applications.
- DOGE cuts across the entire federal government have impacted offices working on advanced tech and AI programs, calling into question the future of U.S. leadership in science and tech.
