America’s 2025 AI Action Plan: How Deregulation, Infrastructure, and Diplomacy Are Driving US Global Leadership

America’s AI Action Plan: Driving Deregulation and Global Leadership in Artificial Intelligence

In July 2025, the White House unveiled America’s AI Action Plan, a comprehensive policy framework asserting the U.S. is in a critical race to lead globally in artificial intelligence. The plan stresses that controlling the largest AI hub means setting global standards and securing economic and military advantages.

This initiative builds on a January 2025 executive order, marking a decisive shift toward a deregulated, innovation-driven AI environment aimed at accelerating technology, expanding workforce opportunities, and asserting U.S. leadership worldwide.

Laying the Groundwork for AI Dominance

January 2025: Executive Order on Deregulation

The administration’s first major AI move was the January 23, 2025 executive order titled “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” It rescinded previous policies seen as obstacles to AI innovation, signaling a break from cautious regulatory approaches.

The order focused on three goals:

• Promoting economic competitiveness: Positioning AI development as essential for national prosperity with private sector-led growth.
• National security: Linking AI leadership directly to the U.S.’s strategic global standing.
• Deregulation: Eliminating federal rules considered restrictive to innovation, streamlining government involvement.

April 2025: Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memoranda

Before the AI Action Plan, the administration issued two key OMB memoranda on April 3, 2025, to accelerate federal AI adoption:

• M-25-21: Empowered Chief AI Officers to champion AI deployment across agencies, balancing innovation with privacy and civil rights protections.
• M-25-22: Streamlined federal AI procurement, promoting quick acquisition of leading AI systems while maintaining accountability.

These memoranda laid the procedural foundation for responsible, strategic AI integration within the federal government.

July 2025: America’s AI Action Plan

Issued on July 23, 2025, the AI Action Plan expanded on prior guidance by setting clear principles for government AI procurement, especially for Large Language Models (LLMs):

• Truth-seeking: LLMs must deliver accurate, scientifically grounded responses and acknowledge uncertainties.
• Ideological neutrality: AI systems should remain neutral and nonpartisan, avoiding embedded ideological agendas unless explicitly requested.

The plan requires federal contracts to enforce these principles, including provisions for decommissioning noncompliant vendors. Beyond procurement, the Plan establishes three pillars shaping the national AI strategy:

• Accelerating AI Innovation
• Building American AI Infrastructure
• Leading in International AI Diplomacy and Security

Pillar 1: Accelerating AI Innovation

The Plan commits to developing the most powerful AI systems and transformative applications, emphasizing broad economic and scientific gains. Key actions include:

• Removing regulatory barriers: The administration targets federal and state regulations seen as burdensome, directing funding to states with favorable AI policies.
• Promoting open-source AI: Encouraging access to AI systems for researchers and startups to fuel rapid innovation, with investments in interpretability and robustness.
• Federal adoption and workforce development: Agencies are tasked with fast-tracking AI deployment, especially in defense. Workforce programs focus on retraining and upskilling in AI-driven fields.
• Advancing protections: Measures address free speech, combatting synthetic media like deepfakes, and incentivizing private-sector AI training through tax benefits.

Pillar 2: Building American AI Infrastructure

AI demands significant computational power and infrastructure. The Plan prioritizes:

• Data center expansion: Expedited permitting for large-scale AI data centers with high energy demands.
• Energy and manufacturing: Streamlined approvals for semiconductor plants and energy infrastructure upgrades to support AI workloads.
• Cybersecurity: Enhanced threat information sharing and updated incident response plans tailored to AI-specific risks.

Pillar 3: Leading in International AI Diplomacy and Security

The Plan positions the U.S. as a global AI leader by:

• Exporting American AI: Supporting Commerce and State Departments in providing secure AI technology packages to allies.
• Countering adversaries: Restricting advanced AI access to rivals, notably China, while promoting American standards abroad.
• Global coordination: Driving international alignment on AI risk protections and leading national security risk evaluations for frontier AI models.

California’s Role and Industry Response

The Plan acknowledges state roles but conditions federal funding on states maintaining deregulated environments supportive of AI innovation. California’s tech sector, with companies like Meta, Anthropic, xAI, and Zoom, has praised the Plan’s focus on federal AI adoption and infrastructure growth.

Anthropic, in particular, has aligned with the Plan’s safety and interpretability priorities and proposed further infrastructure investments, especially in expanding domestic energy capacity.

California’s tech industry is positioned as both a beneficiary and collaborator, balancing innovation with accountability principles grounded in truth-seeking and ideological neutrality.

As the Plan moves into implementation, cooperation between federal agencies and states like California will be essential to accelerate AI adoption, infrastructure buildout, and responsible development. This approach offers a model for how deregulation and clear accountability can coexist to support technology leadership while safeguarding public trust.

Executives and strategists looking to understand the evolving AI landscape should monitor these developments closely, particularly regarding regulatory environments, procurement principles, and infrastructure initiatives. Staying informed and aligned with federal priorities will be key to leveraging opportunities presented by America’s AI Action Plan.