Why Trump wants to ban ‘woke’ AI and enforce political neutrality in federal tech

Why Trump wants to ban ‘woke’ AI

The Trump administration is finalizing an executive order that would require AI firms doing business with the US government to ensure that their models are unbiased politically. The move is a significant escalation in the administration's broader effort to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and challenge what it perceives as liberal bias in emerging technologies, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The officials say the order targets addressing growing concerns that AI programs, in this case, chatbots like Google's Gemini, have political biases in their output. Cases cited are racially diverse portrayals of past leaders and fiery prompt responses already causing public outcry. These incidents have troubled David Sacks, Trump's AI czar, and Sriram Krishnan, the White House's top AI policy advisor. Both have played critical roles as architects of the executive order and are spearheading the administration's agenda to ensure that federal AI systems are politically neutral.

Nearly every major tech firm is competing to provide AI services to the government, so the order may have far-reaching implications. Programmers may be forced to rearchitect how they create and train their models in order to avoid even a hint of political bias. This may include changes to data sources, prompt filters, and system outputs to ensure compliance with the standards of neutrality that are likely to be required under the new policy.

The executive order is just one component of Trump's comprehensive AI strategy, which he will unveil next week. Other proposals include ramping up exports of advanced-level AI chips and software to American allies via federal agencies like the Export-Import Bank. Trump also wants to speed up permits for new data centres and increase energy production in order to enable the infrastructure needed for huge-scale AI model training. Everything is anticipated to be efforts to help the US maintain its technological edge over China and make partner nations reliant on American-made systems.

The AI order with a neutral focus is anticipated to generate high controversy within the technology sector. Its detractors claim it could encourage political favouritism and censorship. Companies like Elon Musk's xAI, which has an "anti-woke" stance, can benefit from commitment to the ideological tilt of the administration, though its chatbot Grok has only recently been embroiled in controversy over antisemitic postings. On the other hand, companies like Anthropic—who have been founded by former OpenAI executives and are staffed by former Biden staffers—could be under greater scrutiny. Anthropic has pushed against the administration's positions regarding chip exports and regulation of AI, even while asserting its actions aren't politically driven.

Trump's obsession with claims of bias in online forums goes back to his initial term. In his second term, he has moved aggressively against DEI initiatives in the federal government and private sector, applying executive orders to reverse initiatives to advance equity and inclusion. The imposition of political neutrality upon AI tools further carries that campaign into one of the most impactful technological domains of the decade.