White House Releases National Policy Framework for AI
The White House has issued a four-page AI policy framework document focusing on, among other things, protecting children against harmful uses of AI and addressing the high energy costs of AI-optimized data centers.
The Trump administration has made it clear that this framework should supersede laws currently in several states as it aims to "win the AI race." The Associated Press reports that Colorado, California, Utah, and Texas have greenlit respective laws to govern AI across the private sector.
"The Administration looks forward to working with Congress in the coming months to turn this framework into legislation that the President can sign," the White House said.
The blueprint outlines six guiding principles:
- AI services and platforms must take measures to protect children, while empowering parents to control their children’s digital environment and upbringing.
- AI development, including data infrastructure buildout, should strengthen American communities and small businesses through economic growth and energy dominance, while ensuring communities are protected from harmful impacts.
- American creators, publishers, and innovators should be protected from AIgenerated outputs that infringe their protected content, without undermining lawful innovation and free expression.
- The federal government must defend free speech and First Amendment protections, while preventing AI systems from being used to silence or censor lawful political expression or dissent.
- The United States must lead the world in AI by removing barriers to innovation, accelerating deployment of AI applications across sectors, and ensuring broad access to the testing environments needed to build world-class AI systems.
- American workers must benefit from AI-driven growth, not just the outputs of AI development, through youth development and skills training, the creation of new jobs in an AI-powered economy, and expanded opportunities across sectors.
- The federal government must establish a federal AI policy framework to protect American rights, support innovation, and prevent a fragmented patchwork of state regulations that would hinder our national competitiveness, while respecting federalism and State rights.
The strategy also shines a light on how to prevent AI data centers from driving up electricity costs. This comes as the war in Iran has seen energy costs skyrocket.
Earlier this month, the White House and top data center operators, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, announced an agreement to offload much of the cost of AI data center infrastructure onto hyperscalers, not consumers. This agreement is mostly ceremonial, however.
The AI policy framework also focuses on respecting the intellectual property rights of creators and content owners, as well as "proposing guardrails to ensure that AI can pursue truth and accuracy without limitation."
The policy also gives attention to investing in training and skills programs to prepare workers for an AI-driven economy.
Broadly speaking, President Trump is seeking to use the sweeping legislation to centralize AI laws at the federal level while keeping rules light to accelerate innovation and maintain U.S. leadership.
The framework is available on the White House site here.