From health care and energy to education and financial services, artificial intelligence (AI) holds promise for numerous areas of American life. The nation that wins the AI race will have a powerful role in shaping the future. To develop AI’s potential, the United States must unleash AI’s benefits while protecting Americans’ safety and privacy and U.S. intellectual property from internal and foreign adversaries. How much do you know about the quickly changing world of AI? Let’s play “Two Truths and a Lie” and find out!
A. The United States is in a competitive race with China to maintain its position as the leader in artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.
B. President Trump aims to boost U.S. AI leadership through deregulation.
C. AI has not yet reached the stage of “limited memory” and is still only at the “reactive machines” level.
A. TRUTH! We are in a race with China to maintain our status as the world leader in AI technology. Trump announced his support of The Stargate Project, a new joint venture among U.S. companies that pledges to invest $500 billion in developing AI technology.
On January 20, 2025, DeepSeek released an entirely free chatbot that was created for a fraction of the cost of current American AI chatbots. Three days later, Trump signed another executive order creating a National Artificial Intelligence Action Plan to ensure that America remains the leader in AI technology. Through a third executive order, Trump established the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) which will advise the President on technological science and innovation policy.
B. TRUTH! President Trump signed an executive order on January 23, 2025 recognizing that the United States is home to a top-tier echelon of institutions and individuals focused on creating and innovating AI. In that same order, Trump called for AI development without any ideological bias or agenda.
Trump also called for an environment that fosters AI innovation and development by removing former AI policies that inhibited such innovation. Members of Congress have indicated they are in line with the White House in creating policies that will help keep America at the forefront of AI innovation.
Trump’s executive order also revoked some previous Biden administration AI policies in order to improve U.S. competitiveness.
C. LIE! Much of the AI technology has hit the limited memory stage (able to temporarily store data for making decisions) and functions there. Theory of mind is currently in development, while robust self-aware AI is still undeveloped. Some observers believe AI could reach a tipping point where it outperforms human intelligence. At today’s point, AI has skyrocketed past the reactive machine phase.
Bottom Line:
The United States is in a race with China to develop the most advanced AI technologies. President Trump has focused on deregulating AI to boost innovation in that field. This approach aims to harness AI’s potential across sectors like health care and finance while addressing concerns about labor, privacy, and environmental impact.
To learn more, read the Policy Focus: Artificial Intelligence: Boundless Opportunities Require Innovative, Adaptive Public Policies