Which AI camp has Trump’s ear now?

The accelerationists want ‘light-touch’ AI regulation, but others are worried about security concerns

    • Upon taking office, Donald Trump (above) repealed former president Joe Biden’s AI executive order which regulated the safety of the technology’s development.
    • Upon taking office, Donald Trump (above) repealed former president Joe Biden’s AI executive order which regulated the safety of the technology’s development. PHOTO: EPA
    Published Fri, Aug 14, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    FOR most of its first year, the second-term Trump administration’s artificial intelligence policy had the coherence of a bumper sticker.

    It wanted to deregulate, out-innovate China, and treated any talk of “safety” as a euphemism for censorship or a competitor’s attempt to pull up the ladder. 

    Vice-President JD Vance set the tone at the Paris AI Action Summit in February 2025, dismissing “hand-wringing about safety” as a threat to a transformative industry.