The Just Security Podcast Decoding Trump’s AI Playbook: The AI Action Plan and What Comes Next
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Jul 24, 2025 
Joshua Geltzer, a partner at Wilmer Hale and former deputy assistant to President Biden, Sam Winter-Levy from the Carnegie Endowment, and Jenny Moran of the Institute for AI Policy dive deep into the White House's ambitious AI Action Plan. They discuss its key pillars: innovation, infrastructure, and global diplomacy. The guests explore the balance between fostering open-source innovation and national security, the critical role of funding, and the implications for U.S. dominance amid rising global competition, especially with China.
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Three Pillars of AI Strategy
- The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan centers on innovation, infrastructure, and international diplomacy to secure U.S. AI dominance.
- It surprisingly includes a strong emphasis on evaluating national security risks from AI models.
AI Race Framing Tensions
- Framing AI as a global race emphasizes U.S.-China competition but ignores the importance of cooperation.
- U.S. actions may conflict with efforts to be a trusted AI partner worldwide due to coercive economic tools.
Key Omissions in AI Plan
- The plan lacks focus on guardrails, accountability, immigration, and legal debates on AI training data.
- These gaps raise questions about how the government will manage risks and support AI innovation.