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US President Donald Trump’s light-touch regulatory approach to AI is receiving strong support from big tech companies such as Google and Meta as well as other industry players such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Amazon-backed Anthropic.
In individual submissions to the White House’s AI Action Plan, these tech companies have largely argued that relaxing the rules around building large language models (LLMs) and other AI tools is pivotal in order to retain the country’s competitive edge over China. A few months ago, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek sent shockwaves across Silicon Valley after it claimed to have built a cutting-edge AI model at a fraction of the development costs by US rivals.
Since taking office in January, President Trump’s efforts have signalled a major shift in focus from addressing AI risks such as hallucinations, deepfakes, and job displacement to accelerating the development of AI at all costs.
He also revoked former US President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI, which had proposed certain guardrails for powerful AI models. “The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety,” US Vice President JD Vance had said at the AI Action Summit held in Paris last month.
Emphasising the need for the US to maintain its position as the “undeniable leader in AI technology”, the Trump administration invited responses from industry leaders on an AI action plan that is expected to be drafted in the next few months of summer, according to a report by AFP.
In its policy proposal, OpenAI reportedly termed DeepSeek’s AI models as “state-subsidized” and “state-controlled” that pose privacy and security risks. It called for protecting AI development “from both autocratic powers that would take people’s freedoms away, and layers of laws and bureaucracy that would prevent our realizing them.”
OpenAI also argued that it should be allowed to train its AI models on copyrighted content under the fair use exception. “Without fair use access to copyrighted material…America loses, as does the success of democratic AI,” the ChatGPT-maker said.
Meanwhile, Meta’s submission stated, “Open source models are essential for the US to win the AI race against China and ensure American AI dominance.” Google’s response t focused on infrastructure investment for AI’s substantial energy requirements. It also argued against state-by-state regulations for AI in the US.
On the other hand, a group comprising popular artists and Hollywood celebrities such as Ben Stiller and Cynthia Erivo rejected the fair use argument put forward by tech companies to justify AI training on copyrighted material.
Trump’s light-touch approach to regulating AI is not exactly aligned with the efforts of the European Union (EU) which adopted the landmark AI Act in 2024, to keep the technology in check.
EU officials are also now pivoting their messaging toward investment and innovation rather than safety, as per reports. However, the bloc still appears to be committed to enforcing strict regulations against big tech companies.
Most recently, the European Commission announced two major antitrust enforcement decisions against Google and Apple. In its preliminary findings, the EU executive body said that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, had almost certainly violated provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Once the findings are conclusive, the EU could impose fines on Google amounting to 10 per cent of its global annual revenues.
In addition, the Commission detailed steps for Apple to comply with the DMA, specifically the provision of the competition legislation that requires designated ‘gatekeepers’ to make their products more easily and effectively interoperable with third-party devices and services.
“The two preliminary findings we adopt today aim to ensure that Alphabet abides by EU rules when it comes to two services widely used by businesses and consumers across the EU, Google Search and Android phones,” Teresa Ribera, the EU’s competition commissioner, was quoted as saying by Fortune.
In response, Apple said: “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules. It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.”
Google also argued that the Commission’s preliminary findings would “make it harder for people to find what they are looking for and reduce traffic to European businesses.”
