President Donald Trump has substantially altered U.S. artificial intelligence policy since returning to the White House, shifting the focus from the technology’s potential risks and harms to its economic benefits, legal analysts said.

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order affirming his administration’s commitment to solidifying America’s AI dominance globally. He also called for federal agency heads to review Biden-era AI policies and regulations and revoke any that might act as a barrier to U.S. innovation in the space.

“I think the new administration has signaled that it is taking a very different direction than the prior one,” K.C. Halm, a partner at law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, said in an interview. Trump is “much more focused on how AI development fits within the global marketplace.”

AI will have a cumulative global economic impact of $19.9 trillion through 2030, according to research firm IDC.

Nearly 4 in 10 employers responding to a recent survey from the Hult International Business School said they would prefer to use AI over hiring a recent college graduate.

Trump told reporters Thursday that he wasn’t worried about the possibility of many American workers being replaced by AI.

“It’s going to create tremendous numbers of jobs,” he said. “It’s going to also create a lot of benefits, medically, for cancer research and other things. It’s going to have a huge positive impact.”

Trump’s first week

After his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump wasted no time in announcing a flurry of U.S. policy changes across a range of issues, including AI.

On his very first day in office, he rescinded a sweeping Biden-era AI executive order that called for guardrails to address the technology’s risks, such as the potential for privacy harms and displacement of workers.

A day later, he announced a $500 billion, four-year effort to boost national AI infrastructure, as reported by CFO Dive sister publication CIO Dive. Oracle, OpenAI, SoftBank and MGX will jointly deploy an initial $100 billion toward that initiative. 

The Thursday order calls for the development of an AI “action plan” within 180 days, led by David Sacks, Trump’s special advisor for AI and crypto, among other tech-focused White House officials.

In addition, it directs these officials, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, to immediately review “all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions” that were taken under the now-revoked Biden order. As part of the review, any actions that might present obstacles to the Trump administration’s AI objectives must be suspended, revised or rescinded. 

Biden’s order, issued in October 2023, called for several AI policy initiatives, including the development of Labor Department guidance to advise employers on the technology’s potential harms to workers. It also directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Commerce Department to establish guidelines to promote “safe, secure, and trustworthy” AI systems.

‘Evolving landscape’

The moves by Trump “signal a sharp departure from the prior administration’s regulatory approach,” according to a blog post published Thursday by Fisher & Phillips, a law firm that specializes in workplace-related matters.

“Employers and AI industry leaders must now deal with an evolving landscape where AI regulation is loosened and investment in AI development is skyrocketing,” the blog post said.

Still, Trump’s order doesn’t diminish the need for U.S. companies to engage in responsible AI practices, analysts said.

“Responsible AI is a mantra that almost all of the large technology companies have embraced, and they have their own internal policies, procedures, and guardrails to address potential harms,” Halm said.

Bad actors in the market will remain at risk of scrutiny from agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, which has broad authority to stop “unfair and deceptive trade practices,” according to Gerry Stegmaier, a partner at Reed Smith.

“Theoretical harms that could arise out of AI are not going to be reflexively and automatically regulated [under the Trump administration], but they will continue to be taken into consideration,” Stegmaier said in an interview.

In addition, class action litigation and state legislative and enforcement activity are unlikely to change much, and may even increase, he said.