What are the main goals of the “America’s AI Action Plan”?

The plan has three pillars: innovation, infrastructure, and global leadership. The first objective is to promote innovation through the development of competitive AI models, both generative (creating text, sound, and/or images) and those used for analysis. The plan envisages the widespread use of AI in science, industry, and security to give the United States an advantage across the entire technology spectrum. The second element is the development of necessary AI infrastructure, including advanced data centres. The plan aims to remove barriers such as environmental restrictions and allow the use of federal government land for the construction of data centres. All of it is intended to provide almost unlimited opportunities for training models and enable the United States to be the first country to achieve AGI with capabilities comparable to those of humans. The third goal is to ensure U.S. global leadership of AI, understood as unquestioned dominance in the field, including models, standards, and the export of technologies such as specialty AI chips. This is intended to guarantee U.S. military and economic superiority while gaining the ability to independently shape global standards for the use of AI. The assumption is that the country with the strongest AI ecosystem will set the global standards, reaping significant economic, military, and political benefits, essentially that American dominance in this field is to be a factor in maintaining the global position of the United States for decades to come.

What actions does the plan propose?

To achieve each of these goals, the U.S. administration proposes specific actions. “America’s AI Action Plan” focuses on deregulation, promoting open AI models, and rapidly deploying AI in defence, science, and industry. Key initiatives include building highly secure data centres for the military and intelligence community and developing a skilled workforce capable of operating advanced AI systems. Deregulation includes simplifying construction procedures and increasing energy availability to facilitate rapid infrastructure development. The plan views ethics and safety regulations as barriers to innovation. Although the EU is not directly mentioned in the plan, it clearly criticises the European approach to regulation, including AI codes of conduct and the AI Act. The plan also provides for a significant increase in investment in advanced AI systems and the creation of a mechanism for assessing its ecosystem. The aim is to provide a comprehensive assessment of U.S. capabilities in this area, similar to the analysis of military capabilities. The plan is supported by three executive orders signed by President Trump on 23 July, accelerating the issuance of permits for the construction of AI infrastructure, promoting the export of American technologies in this field, and counteracting “woke” AI, understood by the current administration as AGI models that incorporate concepts such as “critical race theory”, “transgenderism”, and “systemic racism” in their responses.

What effects might the plan have on Poland and the EU?

The U.S. proposal envisages the export not only of AI chips (i.e., the policy solution from the end of Biden’s presidency) but also of so-called comprehensive AI packages. These are to include chips, accelerators, servers, cloud services, ready-made AI models, cybersecurity solutions and patented AI applications in sectors such as health, agriculture, and transport. This model is intended to increase the dependence of partners on the United States. Countries interested in importing American solutions will have to negotiate the terms of their agreements with the U.S. individually, which may require adapting local regulations to American standards. Adopting these packages could weaken EU regulations, such as the AI Act and the Digital Services Act, as well as the national regulations of Member States. As a result, the import of comprehensive AI packages by the EU or Poland individual would increase dependence on U.S. technologies and hinder the EU's pursuit of technological sovereignty, thus running counter to the political and economic objectives of the Union. On the other hand, open opposition to the American proposal could weaken bilateral relations between the U.S. and Poland and negatively affect the European Union’s position in negotiations with the United States.

How could the plan influence the international position of the U.S. in the field of AI?

The proposed changes will likely increase the global importance of U.S. technology companies, particularly in the export of generative AI models such as Claude and ChatGPT. Under the new, favourable conditions, these companies may grow even faster. The plan will strengthen the existing infrastructure, but will not lead to the emergence of new significant players on the market, which may weaken the position of European AI models, limited by access to less computing power and weaker data centres.

The U.S. is intensifying its rivalry with China, including by checking Chinese AI models for replication of Chinese narratives. The plan also includes rebuilding domestic chip production and developing open AI models that can be freely downloaded and used. This is an attempt to regain ground against China, which released the relatively cheap open generative AI model called DeepSeek. The U.S. sees free, open-source solutions as a strategic tool of influence. The openness and accessibility of American models is intended to enable the United States to take the lead in this segment as well.

If countries adopt the comprehensive AI packages offered by the United States, the plan will strengthen their position, too, although it may also accelerate work on independent solutions in the EU and China, which will want to become independent of U.S. technology.