
On January 23, 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," marking a significant shift in U.S. AI policy. This order revokes and replaces key elements of the Biden administration's approach to AI governance.
Here's a simple and comprehensive breakdown of the executive order's main provisions in this quick insight.
Core Framework and Purpose
President Trump signed the executive order "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence" with the fundamental aim of maintaining U.S. leadership in AI innovation through free markets, research institutions, and entrepreneurial spirit. The order explicitly establishes a policy directive to enhance America's global AI dominance for promoting human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.
Definition of Artificial Intelligence Relied Upon
The order refers to a specific definition of artificial intelligence based on 15 USC § 9401(3):
The term “artificial intelligence” means a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. Artificial intelligence systems use machine and human-based inputs to— (A) perceive real and virtual environments; (B) abstract such perceptions into models through analysis in an automated manner; and (C) use model inference to formulate options for information or action.
The definition specifies that AI systems must use both machine and human-based inputs to perform three key functions:
Perceive real and virtual environments
Abstract these perceptions into models through automated analysis
Use model inference to formulate options for information or action