There are three names attached to the Trump administration’s newly published AI Action Plan. One is the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the other two are Silicon Valley luminaries.
The first is David Sacks, a member of the so-called Paypal mafia, the group of hyper successful founders or early employees of the company. Mr Sacks was a former chief operating officer at PayPal and was founder and CEO at Yammer.
He made angel investments in companies like Facebook, Uber, Palantir and SpaceX, and early this year was made chair of Donald Trump’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. He was named as the White House’ special adviser on AI and Crypto.
Until early 2025, Michael Kratsios was a managing director at the sometimes controversial Silicon Valley data annotation giant Scale AI. He worked in the previous Trump administration as a chief technology officer and became the president’s National Science and Technology adviser after the second Trump inauguration.
Mr Kratsios worked at Peter Thiel’s Thiel Capital for much of the 2010s, finishing as a principal.
That these three men were architects of this National AI Plan is instructive. It describes perfectly the American system that enables a tight coupling of industry voices into the heart of government.
It also highlights (as if it needed to be underlined) the strategic priority that the US has placed on AI innovation in relation to both national security and economic security. A Secretary of State signing off on what is industrial development policy.
The opening sentence of the America’s AI Action Plan document sets the tone for the ambition for the policy: “The United States is in a race to achieve global dominance in AI”. (You can read the InnovationAus story here.)
Regulatory shackles are most definitely off. The administration is signalling that it will not let regulatory issues around things link privacy or data sharing to hinder innovation in AI.
On AI infrastructure, the goal is similarly to remove barriers to building data centres, AI factories and the energy sources to power them – including regulatory impediments to construction.
The Action Plan summarises this part of the plan – on AI infrastructure – as “build baby, build.”
And finally, there is an international component. The plan says the US must lead AI diplomacy and security. It says the US must drive the adoption of American AI among friends around the world and to build its current advantage into an “enduring global alliance”.
Mr Trump signalled a focus on AI from the first days of his presidency. In the first week he had announced the US$500 billion private sector AI infrastructure program known as Stargate and had called for the creation of a National AI Action Plan to be delivered within 60 months.
Well, its six months later and Silicon Valley has had its say. (Click here to see the White House statement on the plan.)
It’s been a busy week. Parliament returned for the first time since the election, and the government agenda got underway (starting with the introduction of legislation to reduce HECS debts by 20 per cent).
In the tech and innovation space, there is a ton of work still hanging over from the last term of the government – not least being privacy reform and proposed AI guardrails. You can get a preview here.
In other news this week, Industry minister Tim Ayres and Finance minister Katy Gallagher issued the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation with a new Statement of Expectations, while the NRF unveiled a $150 million investment in biotech and medtech specialists Brandon Capital.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is considering an overhaul of its tech stack, including abandoning its scandal plagued Salesforce system.
Next month’s Productivity Roundtable is attracting huge interest. If you’re looking to understand some issues that will be contested, Professor Roy Green provides a useful primer here.
CommBank has been accused of ‘shameful’ outsourcing of Australian tech jobs, while the government has been left waiting for a planning application from PsiQuantum that would enable construction to get underway at the company’s site in Queensland.
Trump unveils AI action plan, vows US will win race with China – InnovationAus.com
Parliament preview: What’s stuck on Albo’s tech agenda – InnovationAus.com [$]
Rowland defends corruption watchdog, flags privacy crackdown on AI – AFR [$]
NRF told to crank investment, prioritise national interest – InnovationAus.com [$]
NRF injects $150m into Brandon Capital life sciences fund – InnovationAus.com
NDIA mulls tech overhaul after procurement scandal – InnovationAus.com [$]
Economic reform must include industrial transformation – InnovationAus.com
CBA accused of ‘shameful’ tech job offshoring – InnovationAus.com [$]
Govt left waiting for PsiQuantum planning application – InnovationAus.com [$]
NACC dragging chain on $31m tender probe – The Australian [$]
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