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Donald Trump hit out at “woke, Marxist lunacy” in artificial intelligence models, as he ordered his administration to block companies whose systems exhibit “partisan bias or ideological agendas” from doing business with the US government.
In an executive order signed on Wednesday, the president urged federal agencies not to procure services that “sacrifice truthfulness and accuracy to ideological agendas”, citing instances in which chatbots have allegedly distorted facts in order to satisfy diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Two separate orders also signed Wednesday mandated the acceleration of data centre permitting and promoted the export of US technology, in a boost to American companies such as Nvidia and AMD.
In a speech ahead of the signings, Trump vowed that the US government would now “deal only with AI that pursues truth, fairness and strict impartiality”.
A senior administration official said that the General Service Administration, which oversees government procurement, would draw up the rules to vet government contractors for instances of bias. Trump’s political allies have long accused AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini of promoting liberal ideology.
Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot, developed by his company xAI, came under fire for providing answers containing antisemitic tropes and praising Adolf Hitler. xAI is among the big AI companies including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic to have won lucrative federal contracts.
Some civil society groups have raised concerns about giving the government the power to vet for perceived bias. “The government should not be acting as a Ministry of AI Truth or insisting that AI models hew to its preferred interpretation of reality,” said Samir Jain, vice-president of policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
A policy paper released by the White House on Wednesday also proposed preventing states with “burdensome AI regulations” from receiving federal funding for AI projects.
It included a provision that federal agencies with AI-related funding should “consider a state’s AI regulatory climate when making funding decisions” in an apparent reference to attempts by states such as New York to police the technology.
The plan also called for a review of Federal Trade Commission investigations begun under the Biden administration that may promote legal theories that “unduly burden AI innovation”. Under former president Joe Biden, the agency probed AI partnerships such as those between Microsoft and OpenAI, and Amazon and Anthropic.
Further, the plan commits to revive US chip manufacturing, led by a “revamped” Chips Program Office in the Department of Commerce, which was purged by Musk ally Michael Grimes in March.
In his speech at the AI Summit in Washington, Trump emphasised the need for allies to use American chips, rounding on his predecessor for “crippling” US AI exports with controls his administration has since reversed.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was in Washington for the event.
Huang has forged a closer relationship with Trump despite criticising US export control policies on advanced AI chips. The tech boss scored a diplomatic win last week when the administration signalled it would allow Nvidia to resume shipments of an AI chip specifically designed for China’s market.
Trump on Wednesday echoed Huang’s argument that US AI chip export controls give a leg-up to the likes of China’s Huawei, saying that “necessary protections” would remain but that “the greatest threat of all is to forfeit the race and force our partners into rival technology”.
One of the executive orders directs the commerce department, secretary of state and Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish an “American AI Export Program” within 90 days, aimed at supporting foreign sales of both hardware and AI models and applications.
It will seek proposals from industry groups to identify “specific target countries or regional blocs for export engagement”.
Additional reporting by Melissa Heikkilä in London
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