Project 2025’s AI Policy:

A Confusing and Contradictory Framework

 

 

 

Biden’s Executive Order vs. Trump’s Vision

In October 2023, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping executive order on artificial intelligence. The goal was clear: build public safeguards, ensure ethical development, and regulate AI technologies. Provisions included watermarking AI-generated content and preventing bias or fraud.

In contrast, Donald Trump’s approach to AI, or rather the lack of one, reveals a chaotic and inconsistent policy vision. Trump himself shows little grasp of modern technology, yet his allies have drafted policies that could reshape AI governance dramatically.

AI Innovation or Deregulated Chaos?

The Republican campaign’s AI statement aggressively declares, “We will repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order… Republicans support AI rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” Despite its strong language, it offers no concrete plan to achieve these lofty goals.

Instead, further clues appear in Project 2025, a policy roadmap created by The Heritage Foundation in collaboration with Trump’s allies. The document is lengthy, but its AI policy is scattered, ideological, and riddled with contradictions.

Incoherent Objectives, Vague Proposals

Project 2025 swings between conflicting AI strategies. It advocates for both increased and decreased AI use in government. It proposes expanding espionage capabilities with AI, yet it attacks China’s use of AI for authoritarian control. These contradictions erode any sense of clarity or intent.

For instance, while the project denounces China’s AI surveillance, it also suggests that U.S. intelligence should exploit AI to analyze classified data more effectively. One wonders: Is this just a mirrored version of the very authoritarianism it condemns?

Hypocrisy in AI Strategy Toward China

One glaring inconsistency is the approach toward TikTok. Despite ByteDance being a major Chinese AI company, Trump reversed his earlier stance on banning the app in the U.S. If AI policy is about national security and opposing China, why tolerate one of China’s most powerful AI platforms?

Project 2025’s claim that the U.S. should “stop entities from supporting China’s malign AI goals” appears hollow in light of Trump’s unpredictable actions.

Surveillance, Reproductive Rights, and AI

The document’s most disturbing proposals revolve around surveillance. It targets “abortion tourism” by urging the CDC to collect more data on reproductive healthcare. This raises questions: could AI be used to track women across states seeking medical services? The potential for abuse is staggering.

Moreover, the plan encourages Medicaid and Medicare data expansion.

Deregulation Disguised as Innovation

Another consistent theme in Project 2025 is deregulation. It criticizes Biden’s AI restrictions and pushes to remove red tape. Yet the AI sector today is already underregulated. Calls to cut “burdensome regulations” ignore the very real risks posed by unchecked AI development.

The document proposes shifting AI responsibilities to private contractors. This favors companies like Palantir, co-founded by Trump ally Peter Thiel. Palantir has long-standing government contracts, including work with intelligence agencies. Trump’s administration previously used Palantir’s tools for political surveillance.

Silicon Valley’s Quiet Influence

Thiel isn’t alone. Multiple tech moguls, once wary of Trump, now support him. According to reports, Trump’s allies are drafting an executive order to launch “AI Manhattan Projects” that blend military applications with corporate partnerships while simultaneously gutting regulatory safeguards.

Despite their rhetoric, these plans don’t mention AI training ethics, workforce displacement, or copyright issues. That absence reflects a shallow understanding of both the risks and responsibilities associated with artificial intelligence.

Trump’s Erratic Relationship with AI

Trump’s personal use of AI is equally erratic. He has falsely accused Kamala Harris of posting AI-generated images. Ironically, he has also posted AI-generated photos himself, depicting everything from heroic battle scenes to fabricated celebrity endorsements.

This unpredictable behavior underscores the danger of a leader with unchecked influence over emerging technologies.

Expert Opinions on the Risks

Roxana Muenster, a PhD candidate at Cornell and Brookings COMPASS fellow, notes the troubling lack of substance in Project 2025’s AI approach. Despite the document spanning over 900 pages, it barely mentions AI policy. Muenster warns that repealing Biden’s executive order without a suitable replacement would leave a vacuum in AI governance.

“There’s nothing on training, privacy, equity, or safety,” she told Futurism. The absence of any real implementation strategy, she says, is deeply alarming.

AI as a Political Weapon, Not a Public Good

The AI policy in Project 2025 seems less about technology and more about ideology. Its proposals lack scientific grounding and appear crafted to reinforce political goals. Instead of fostering innovation and ethical AI use, the document envisions a future where AI serves the surveillance state, silences dissent, and prioritizes corporate profits over civil liberties.

This ideologically driven framework is not only misguided but potentially dangerous.

The Final Word: Why This Matters

If Project 2025 becomes the blueprint for AI governance, America could face a future of aggressive surveillance, unregulated corporate power, and ideological censorship. As AI technology advances, so must the policies that govern it be guided not by fear or favoritism, but by fairness, safety, and public accountability.

As it stands, Project 2025 offers none of that.