This is the first in a new series of Covington blogs on the AI policies, executive orders, and other actions of the new Trump Administration. This blog describes key actions on AI taken by the Trump Administration in January 2025.
Outgoing President Biden Issues Executive Order and Data Center Guidance for AI Infrastructure
Before turning to the Trump Administration, we note one key AI development from the final weeks of the Biden Administration. On January 14, in one of his final acts in office, President Biden issued Executive Order 14141 on “Advancing United States Leadership in AI Infrastructure.” This EO, which remains in force, sets out requirements and deadlines for the construction and operation of “frontier AI infrastructure,” including data centers and clean energy facilities, by private-sector entities on federal land. Specifically, EO 14141 directs the Departments of Defense (“DOD”) and Energy (“DOE”) to lease federal lands for the construction and operation of AI data centers and clean energy facilities by the end of 2027, establishes solicitation and lease application processes for private sector applicants, directs federal agencies to take various steps to streamline and consolidate environmental permitting for AI infrastructure, and directs the DOE to take steps to update the U.S. electricity grid to meet the growing energy demands of AI.
On January 14, and in tandem with the release of EO 14141, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued Memorandum M-25-03 on “Implementation Guidance for the Federal Data Center Enhancement Act,” directing federal agencies to implement requirements related to the operation of data centers by federal agencies or government contractors. Specifically, the memorandum requires federal agencies to regularly monitor and optimize data center electrical consumption, including through the use of automated tools, and to arrange for assessments by certified specialists of data center energy and water usage and efficiency, among other requirements. Like EO 14141, Memorandum M-25-03 has yet to be rescinded by the Trump Administration.
Trump White House Revokes President Biden’s 2023 AI Executive Order
On January 20, President Trump issued Executive Order 14148 on “Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” revoking dozens of Biden Administration executive actions, including the October 2023 Executive Order 14110 on the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI” (“2023 AI EO”). To implement these revocations, Section 3 of EO 14148 directs the White House Domestic Policy Council (“DPC”) and National Economic Council (“NEC”) to “review all Federal Government actions” taken pursuant to the revoked executive orders and “take all necessary steps to rescind, replace, or amend such actions as appropriate.” EO 14148 further directs the DPC and NEC to submit, within 45 days of the EO, lists of additional Biden Administration orders, memoranda, and proclamations that should be rescinded and “replacement orders, memoranda, or proclamations” to “increase American prosperity.” Finally, EO 14148 directs National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to initiate a “complete and thorough review” of all National Security Memoranda (“NSMs”) issued by the Biden Administration and recommend NSMs for recission within 45 days of the EO.
Although the revocation of President Biden’s 2023 AI EO has been widely expected under the new administration, it remains unclear how the revocation will impact the over 100 federal agency actions that have been completed pursuant to the 2023 AI EO, including two OMB memoranda on AI issued in March and October 2024, the White House’s October 2024 National Security Memorandum on AI, and the establishment of the U.S. AI Safety Institute within the Department of Commerce. With this said, a subsequent order from the Trump Administration – Executive Order 14179, discussed below – directs OMB to “revise” the Biden Administration’s March and October 2024 OMB memoranda on AI, which suggests that some aspects of those memoranda could continue to exist in modified form. These and other actions pursuant to the 2023 AI EO are currently subject to review and could be modified or replaced by the Trump Administration in the coming months. Other ongoing actions pursuant to the 2023 AI EO, such as the Department of Commerce’s ongoing rulemaking to implement the 2023 AI EO’s dual-use foundation model reporting and red-teaming requirements, are likely to be halted under EO 14148 and EO 14179, discussed below.
White House Announces Stargate AI Infrastructure Partnership
On January 21, the White House announced the creation of “Stargate,” a partnership that plans to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. In his statement, President Trump noted that the goal of Stargate is to “keep [AI technology development] in this country” in light of AI competition from China and other countries, including the construction of data centers and “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI.” The Stargate announcement follows the White House’s Executive Order 14156 on “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” issued on January 20, which directs federal agencies to take steps to facilitate the leasing and generation of domestic energy resources on federal and non-federal lands and directs federal agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use emergency permitting provisions in federal environmental laws to “facilitate the Nation’s energy supply,” among other things.
The Stargate partnership highlights the Trump Administration’s focus on U.S. AI infrastructure and energy development as a core aspect of White House AI policy and could signal continuity with aspects of the Biden Administration’s EO 14141 on AI Infrastructure, discussed above.
President Trump Issues Executive Order on U.S. Leadership in AI
On January 23, President Trump issued Executive Order 14179 on “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” (“2025 AI EO”). The 2025 AI EO establishes the U.S. policy of “sustain[ing] and enhance[ing] America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.” The 2025 AI EO is relatively light on specific policy directives and instead directs Assistant to the President for Science & Technology (and Office of Science & Technology Policy (“OSTP”) Director nominee) Michael Kratsios, White House AI & Crypto Czar David Sacks, and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to “develop and submit to the President an [AI] action plan” within 180 days of the 2025 AI EO. On February 6, the White House OSTP and National Science Foundation issued a Request for Information seeking public input on the AI Action Plan and listing 20 AI policy topics for potential public comment.
To implement the revocation of the Biden Administration’s 2023 AI EO, the 2025 AI EO also directs Kratsios, Sacks, and Waltz to immediately review and identify “all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions” taken pursuant to the 2023 AI EO that “are or may be inconsistent with, or present obstacles to,” the U.S. policy of sustaining and enhancing America’s global AI dominance, and instructs federal agencies to suspend, revise, or rescind such actions. Finally, as mentioned above, the 2025 AI EO directs OMB to “revise” the Biden Administration’s March and October 2024 OMB memoranda on AI “as necessary to make them consistent with” the 2025 AI EO’s U.S. policy, within 60 days of the 2025 AI EO.
White House and Congress Respond to Launch of DeepSeek-R1
On January 20, Chinese AI company DeepSeek released its R1 model on U.S. app stores, sparking concerns about China’s advancements in the U.S.-China AI race and the effectiveness of U.S. AI export controls. On January 24, the U.S. Navy issued an internal memo instructing service members to “refrain from downloading, installing, or using” DeepSeek AI models “in any capacity,” re-iterating the Navy’s 2023 policy against the use of commercial generative AI systems. On January 27, President Trump stated that the release of DeepSeek-R1 was a “wakeup call for [U.S. AI] industries” and, on January 28, the White House confirmed that a National Security Council review of DeepSeek’s AI models was ongoing.
Members of Congress have also quickly responded to the launch of DeepSeek’s model. On January 29, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced the Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act (S. 321), which would impose sweeping prohibitions on U.S. imports and exports of AI and R&D to and from China and bar U.S. investments in Chinese AI technology. On January 29, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) sent a letter to the White House urging the Trump Administration to “consider updating Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) to prohibit the federal government from acquiring AI systems based on PRC models such as DeepSeek.” On February 3, Senators Hawley and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick urging him to “strengthen our export controls on the PRC” in response to the release of DeepSeek-R1 by strengthening the Department’s AI Diffusion Rule and restricting H20 chips, equivalent chips, and other critical AI components, among other actions.
State lawmakers have issued their own responses to DeepSeek and other Chinese AI developers. On January 31, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) issued a ban on the use of AI apps affiliated with China, including DeepSeek, on state government-issued devices. Similarly, on February 6, lawmakers introduced bills in Georgia (SB 104) and Kansas (HB 2313) that would ban the use of DeepSeek-R1 and other Chinese AI models from use on state government-issued devices. The Kansas bill would also prohibit AI models controlled by the governments of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, or Venezuela.