Those Behind the Curtain

When U.S. President Donald Trump took the oath of office for his second term, cameras focused on a group of names among the attendees. Technology giants, typically striving to maintain a politically neutral stance and exert influence over both Democrats and Republicans, were positioned in the front rows at Trump’s second inauguration ceremony they took place. This image signaled a new and pragmatic alliance between Silicon Valley and the White House. The Artificial Intelligence Action Plan published approximately two weeks earlier contains key elements pointing toward the concrete realization of this alliance.

Moreover, this shift symbolized a radical departure from the previous Biden administration’s artificial intelligence policies. Under Biden, the “security first” principle guided AI policy, introducing mandatory security testing, oversight, and transparency requirements for developers through Decree issued in 2023. Shortly after assuming office, Donald Trump rescinded this executive order and issued a new one titled “Removing the Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence”. Compared to the “security-focused” AI documents issued during the Biden era, this bold move clearly expressed America’s desire to take a leading role in global AI competition. Following this, last week the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan was released under the title “Winning the Race”.

The first paragraph of the plan’s introduction states that America must win this AI race just as it won the space race. This approach reveals that American policymakers continue to view artificial intelligence technologies as a field of competition. However, the strategy for achieving dominance is not envisioned solely through government initiatives and actions but also through the state-corporate alliance mentioned above. The 2025 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan can be interpreted as a sign of deep and symbiotic cooperation between the U.S. government and the nation’s technology giants. Figures such as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang, which we focus on in this article, emerge not merely as beneficiaries of this plan but as its designers, architects, and implementers.

The objectives outlined in the document can be summarized as achieving clear dominance globally in AI innovation, infrastructure, and exports, primarily targeting China. The path to achieving this goal—winning the race—is to make American AI technologies available worldwide as integrated packages. To accomplish this, rapid expansion of the American AI ecosystem is deemed necessary. The overall framework of the plan involves accelerating bureaucratic processes for technology companies to easily develop infrastructure and innovation, and reforming and easing regulations in this domain.

The Action Plan consists of three main components: accelerating AI innovation, building American AI infrastructure, and assuming leadership in global AI security and diplomacy. The first section states that open-source or auditable models will be encouraged for internal government use. It is known that since the beginning of Trump’s second term, open-source artificial intelligence models have begun to gain prominence. On the other hand, xAI’s registration of its Grok-1.5 model with NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in accordance with the Action Plan, and the use of this model as the foundation for the already pre-negotiated $200 million “Grok for Gov” project, indicate close coordination between the two entities. The fact that Musk’s companies have secured such a large government contract, while consistently advocating for reduced public spending through the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) narrative, is highly significant.

Although President Trump and Musk’s paths diverged in recent months, it is evident in various parts of the Action Plan that Musk’s approach has been adopted. The emphasis on freedom of expression in the first section aligns with Musk’s rhetoric and Grok’s performance. Similarly, statements in the same section calling for the elimination of “ideological bias” in AI, the prioritization of neutral language models, and the promotion of “American values” constitute both a campaign against the previous administration’s “woke ideology” and the ethical and cultural dimension of the struggle against China. Removing woke ideology from AI addresses a domestic issue and reflects the Trump administration’s sustained pressure on technology companies. Although Musk has clashed with the administration, his ideas are now visible in power. It is clear that his own AI company is positioned advantageously within the new regulatory environment.

In January, Trump announced the Stargate project alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Such announcements are viewed as mutually beneficial by both Trump and private-sector actors. For Trump, these steps reinforce his image as a “deal-maker,” while for the mentioned companies, they mean easier bypassing of bureaucratic obstacles and faster implementation.

This massive $50 billion initiative, planned to be carried out through a collaboration between OpenAI, Microsoft, Oracle, and SoftBank, aims to establish a network of data centers to support AI projects. The second section of the Action Plan, titled “Building American AI Infrastructure,” provides a legal foundation for projects like Stargate and permits the relaxation of environmental regulations to streamline bureaucratic procedures. For example, the document proposes easing laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, and creating special exemptions for data centers. These privileges, as outlined in the document, are seen as both a guarantee of security and a means to open the way for investments that will boost domestic economic activity.

On the other hand, these aggressive growth policies bring certain risks. It is well known that data centers require substantial energy. For instance, a standard AI data center consumes approximately consumes electricity as much electricity as 100,000 households. According to the International Energy Agency’s its prediction, by 2030 data centers alone will consume as much electricity as the entire country of Japan. This situation reveals that serious environmental costs will likely arise in the future.

One of the key issues in the Action Plan is the challenge of GPUs, the greatest bottleneck in AI development. It is widely known that Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang play a pivotal role in shaping the United States’ semiconductor export policy. The Trump administration’s decision to lift the ban on exporting Nvidia’s H20 AI chips to China was previously interpreted as to the news the result of Huang’s intense lobbying efforts and his personal meeting with the president.

The Action Plan seeks to continue sales to China while simultaneously strengthening export controls and closing loopholes in existing regulations. Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick’s statement captures the essence of America’s stance on this issue:

“Our goal is to sell enough products to China to make its developers dependent on the American technology ecosystem and to ensure that China is always one step behind in its own capabilities.”^【1】

This approach aims to allow Nvidia to continue selling GPUs and growing its business, while reserving its most advanced products exclusively for the domestic market, thereby ensuring American leadership in AI technology by withholding exports to China. While this stance appears profitable for Nvidia, Trump’s authorization to sell H20 chips has sparked debate even among Republicans. Recently, a group of 20 national security experts wrote a warning letter evaluating this decision as a strategic error. The experts argue that these chips are critical to enhancing China’s AI capabilities in both civilian and military domains, and that this decision is not merely a commercial matter but a matter of national security.

America’s 2025 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan can be seen as an expression of a competitive posture. Of course, interpreting this plan solely through the lens of personal interests and lobbying activities of figures such as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang would overlook the broader picture. Yet, it is undeniable that these three individuals and the tech giants they represent are the primary actors shaping the plan’s spirit, defining its goals, and implementing its measures.

This new era signals a symbiotic alliance in which the boundaries between Silicon Valley and the White House are increasingly blurred, and national strategy is intertwined with the commercial objectives of technology giants. While only time will reveal the ultimate outcomes, it is clear that this aggressive, private-sector-driven approach will not only intensify the U.S.-China technology race but also profoundly shape the future of artificial intelligence.

Author: Emirhan Kartal.