On January 20, 2025, within hours of taking the oath of office for the second time, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that revoked an executive order from the prior administration regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI). During the first term of President Trump from 2017 until 2021, the use of AI, in particular generative AI, was not as prevalent as it is today. As such, the number of regulations of AI at the federal, state, or local level was more limited as well. The significant technology advance and adoption over the past four years has impacted government regulation and will likely continue to do so.

On the first day of his second term in office, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.” It reads that to “commence the policies that will make our Nation united, fair, safe, and prosperous again, it is the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the federal government and unleash the potential of the American citizen.” In connection with that, the executive order revokes more than 50 prior executive orders, including Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 2023 (Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence).

Executive Order 14110 outlined its purpose as “governing the development and use of AI safely and responsibly, and is therefore advancing a coordinated, Federal Government–wide approach to doing so.” The executive order also outlined eight “guiding principles and priorities”: 

• Making AI safe and secure
• Promoting “responsible innovation, competition, and collaboration” 
• Committing to supporting American workers in the development and use of AI
• Advancing equity and civil rights with AI
• Protecting the interest of Americans using AI and AI-enabled products in their daily lives
• Protecting Americans’ privacy and civil liberties
• Managing the risks from the federal government’s own use of AI
• Engaging with international allies and partners in developing a framework to manage AI’s risks, unlock AI’s potential for good, and promote common approaches to shared challenges.

Executive Order 14100 was one of many executive orders issued in the past four years. Some other prior executive actions on AI are the October 2024 “Framework to Advance AI Governance and Risk Management in National Security”; the U.S. Office of Special Counsel’s principles and policies for the use of AI; and most recently in January 2025, on federal support for AI Data Centers.

Chain of Executive Orders on AI

In his first term in office, President Trump did issue Executive Order 13859 in February 2019, “Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” Under this executive order, “Agencies are encouraged to continue to use AI, when appropriate, to benefit the American people.” It also noted that “Agencies must therefore design, develop, acquire, and use AI in a manner that fosters public trust and confidence while protecting privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and American values, consistent with applicable law and the goals of Executive Order 13859.” It outlined nine principles for the use of AI in government: 

• Lawful and respectful of the Nation’s values
• Performance driven
• Accurate
• Safe and secure
• Understandable
• Responsible and traceable
• Regularly monitored
• Transparent
• Accountable. 

Many of these same principles can be found in the October 2023 Executive Order 14110 that has now been revoked, with the main difference of the latter addressing concerns about the implementation of AI in the private sector and in the government, while the 2019 Executive Order 13859 focused only on the government’s implementation of artificial intelligence.

The recent executive order revoking the 2023 Executive Order 14110 appears to reflect this difference, as the other executive orders on AI focused on the government’s use of AI were not revoked. This concern on regulation of the private sector can be found in the 2024 Republican Party platform on AI, which noted that certain executive orders hindered AI innovation and that they “support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” Potentially as a sign of things to come, CEOs of large technology companies such as Amazon, Meta, Google, and Tesla were in attendance at the recent inauguration. 

Conclusion

It is worth noting that the recent executive order states that the “revocations within this order will be the first of many steps the United States federal government will take to repair our institutions and our economy.” Thus, it remains to be seen how future government action at the federal level in 2025 will impact the regulation of artificial intelligence going forward.