Trump revokes Biden's AI executive order

On his first day in office, President Trump signed “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” a broad order revoking a list of Biden-era directives that included Executive Order 14110, “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” Signed in October 2023, EO 14110 had been the most extensive federal AI policy document to date, setting eight guiding principles and directing agencies to require safety-test reporting from developers of the most powerful models, among many other provisions.

The rescission order gave no detailed rationale specific to AI; it grouped the AI order alongside other Biden administration actions the new administration characterised as harmful to its priorities. Legal commentators noted that revoking an executive order does not automatically unwind actions already taken under its authority — agency rules, guidance memos and reporting frameworks issued pursuant to EO 14110 remained technically in force until separately reviewed or withdrawn, leaving companies uncertain for a period about which obligations still applied.

Three days later, on 23 January, Trump issued a replacement order, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” directing agencies to review and unwind EO 14110-era actions and to develop a new AI action plan. The two orders together marked a complete reversal of federal AI policy direction within a single week of the transition, replacing an approach centred on safety-testing obligations and risk reporting with one centred on removing regulatory obstacles to development. The reversal was one of the clearest early examples of an AI policy built on executive order rather than statute proving to be exactly as durable as the administration that issued it.