Trump’s AI Action Plan aims to limit AI exports to China

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The Trump administration wants the US to be a world leader in AI, both at home and internationally. 

However, it also wants to make sure that this leadership doesn’t end up helping countries that are considered US rivals. Balancing those two goals is proving difficult.

On Wednesday, the administration released its AI Action Plan, which outlines its intentions but leaves many questions unanswered. 

The plan emphasizes that America is currently ahead in areas like building data centers, developing powerful computing hardware, and creating advanced AI models. 

The goal is to turn this advantage into long-term global leadership, but without allowing foreign adversaries to benefit from US progress.

To help with that, the plan recommends tightening controls on AI chip exports. Two main suggestions were made:

1. The government should work with US tech companies to develop features that can verify where AI chips end up.
   
2. There should be a new initiative to explore how to better enforce export restrictions, especially for smaller components used in chip-making, which are currently not as tightly controlled.

The plan also stresses the importance of working with allies. 

It urges partner countries to follow the same export rules, and warns that if they don’t, the US may respond with tariffs or other trade measures to push them into alignment.

Still, the plan doesn’t say exactly how any of this will be done. It focuses more on laying the groundwork for future policy, rather than announcing new rules right away.

There’s also evidence that the Trump administration is still figuring things out. 

For example, it recently allowed companies like Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, just months after banning such sales. 

It also canceled a Biden-era rule limiting how much AI computing power other countries could access, just before it was set to take effect.

More executive orders are expected soon, but it’s unclear if they’ll provide real details. For now, the administration seems to be signaling its intentions while still working out the actual plans.

Do you think Trump’s AI Action Plan to limit AI exports to China will help maintain US technological leadership? Or could these restrictions hurt American companies and slow down global AI innovation? Tell us below in the comments, or reach us via our Twitter or Facebook.