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The Trump administration walked back an Executive Order from former President Joe Biden that created rules around the development and deployment of AI. Since then, the government has stepped back from regulating the technology.
In a more than three-hour hearing at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, executives like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Coreweave co-founder and CEO Michael Intrator and Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith urged policymakers to ease the process of building infrastructure around AI development.
The executives told policymakers that speeding up permitting could make building new data centers, power plants to energize data centers and even chip fabricators crucial in shoring up the AI Tech Stack and keeping the country competitive against China. They also spoke about the need for more skilled workers like electricians, easing software talent immigration and encouraging “AI diffusion” or the adoption of generative AI models in the U.S. and worldwide.
Altman, fresh from visiting the company’s $500 billion Stargate project in Texas, told senators that the U.S. is leading the charge in AI, but it needs more infrastructure like power plants to fuel its next phase.
“I believe the next decade will be about abundant intelligence and abundant energy. Making sure that America leads in both of those, that we are able to usher in these dual revolutions that will change the world we live in incredibly positive ways is critical,” Altman said.
The hearing came as the Trump administration is determining how much influence the government will have in the AI space. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, chair of the committee, said he proposed creating an AI regulatory sandbox.
Microsoft’s Smith said in his written testimony that American AI companies need to continue innovating because ” it is a race that no company or country can win by itself.”
Supporting the AI tech stack
Microsoft’s Smith laid out the AI Tech Stack, which he said shows how important each segment of the sector is to innovation.
“We’re all in this together. If the United States is gonna succeed in leading the world in AI, it requires infrastructure, it requires success at the platform level, it requires people who create applications,” Smith said.
He added, “Innovation will go faster with more infrastructure, faster permit …