Hello friends,

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who completed our survey. Your feedback was incredibly valuable, and you’ll start seeing some changes in this edition and future ones – all based on what you shared.

Speaking of changes, we’re doing something different today based on something we learned from you. Instead of our usual four sections of sometimes-disparate content, we’re keeping it simple with one big deep dive into a topic.

For this edition, we’re looking at the Trump Administration’s new AI Action Plan that was released last week. My hope is to give you a solid understanding of the plan and its implications – and a bit of my take on it. My goal is for you to learn as much as you can so you can shape your own opinion about it and America’s future with AI.

So pour a coffee or pop a Zyn because this one’s heavy.

Here we go...

– Kyser

How We Got Here
To fully understand the plan, we’ve gotta start at the beginning.

Back in October 2023, President Biden signed Executive Order 14110, which established the first federal framework for AI governance. Because an Executive Order isn’t legislation passed by Congress, it can only do so much, but Biden’s EO did require companies developing powerful AI systems to share safety test results with the government, report on their training runs, and implement “red team testing” before release. [Side note: Red team testing is when companies attack their own AI systems. In other words, their team tries to find all the ways someone could break or misuse the technology, kind of like stress-testing a bridge before opening it to traffic.] Federal agencies also had to assess AI risks in critical infrastructure and develop standards for AI use. Though it was met with frustration from tech companies building these big AI tools, the EO itself wasn’t considered revolutionary. The orders were mostly guardrails to ensure things didn’t get outta control as AI capabilities exploded.

Fast forward to President Trump’s first few days in office. On January 23, 2025, the president signed Executive Order 14179, which essentially rescinded Biden’s order entirely. His campaign had promised as much, saying they would “repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that imposes Radical Leftwing ideas and hinders AI Innovation on the development of this technology.” Then at the AI Action Summit in Paris a few weeks later, Vice President Vance laid out the new philosophy: “The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety.”

Two weeks later, the administration solicited public comments for what would become the comprehensive AI Action Plan released last week. Everyone from Hollywood stars to newspaper groups to civil rights organizations submitted their visions for America’s AI future. And of course, the big tech companies jumped at the chance to shape policy. OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, etc., submitted recommendations, with a telling theme: China’s DeepSeek had changed everything, and any regulation would doom America to second place. [Side note: If you want to know more about why being the runner-up is viewed as bad by many people, read Edition #19: What’s up with China and AI?]

Unlock the rest of this newsletter for only $1.

Become a member and pay $1 for the first month. As soon as you’re a member, you can read this edition and all previous ones on our website right away. And starting in two weeks, you’ll get the full newsletter in your inbox every other Friday.

Click on the button below, click Login at the top of the screen, log in with your email address, then click Upgrade in the top right menu.

After your month is up, feel free to cancel – or better yet, stay a member and continue reaping the rewards.