Far from deregulating the tech sector, the Trump administration is executing massive government projects in pursuit of “unchallenged global technological dominance.” Enabled by a confluence of geopolitical and commercial interests, the federal government is proactively coordinating the AI market in three respects: 

• Derisking the construction of data centers and energy infrastructure, 
• Opening up new markets for US-aligned AI infrastructure, and 
• Acquiring equity stakes of key firms in the AI supply chain.

In analyzing major priorities of the Trump administration’s AI agenda, this policy brief finds that the US government is engaging in extraordinary levels of market intervention in order to bolster the AI sector. In time, we may be seeing the emergence of a new industrial policy — an incipient “Big AI State” — by which substantial US capacity is dedicated to sustain AI-related investments that prop up core economic sectors: tech, fossil fuel, real estate, and asset management.   

Thus the problem is not that President Trump is deregulating the AI industry. The problem is that the federal government is using extraordinary power to pursue political goals that will likely prove disastrous to workers, communities, and the environment.

This moment calls for much more imaginative thinking on public tools to reconfigure the tech sector. A policy agenda to strengthen industrial democracy will require more than reversing the actions of the Trump administration. By exploring several features of the administration’s emerging industrial policy, this policy brief proposes alternative directions to shape technological innovation.