On January 14, 2025, President Biden issued the (the “order”). The order establishes a comprehensive roadmap for federal support for the development of AI data centers, as well as the development of clean energy generation facilities to power those AI data centers. The order follows of October 30, 2023.
The order sets forth a detailed timeline by which the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Interior (together with other federal departments and agencies), are to establish specific rules and procedures to implement the policy statements in the order.
The order is quite extensive and detailed–much more so than we normally expect from executive orders. There are carefully crafted definitions, specific deadlines, program requirements, and executive branch directives. A significant amount of work went into the preparation of the order. One could be forgiven for thinking that the order was originally intended as legislation.
This is likely all for naught, however. On January 20, Donald Trump will become president. There is every reason to expect that President Trump and his cabinet will promptly ignore the directives in the order, if not explicitly revoke it. Consequently, we do not expect the order to have any practical impact.
Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation; displace and disempower workers; stifle competition; and pose risks to national security. Harnessing AI for good and realizing its myriad benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks.