U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at an artificial intelligence summit in Washington on Wednesday, during which his administration is expected to release a highly anticipated federal AI action plan. The plan aims to provide policy guidance for U.S. AI development and may further relax the existing regulatory framework.

An executive order signed by Trump in late January requires the development of an AI action plan within 180 days, led by White House AI and cryptocurrency special advisor David Sacks and other government officials.

"The upcoming AI action plan will be the most substantive policy statement on artificial intelligence since the Trump administration returned to the White House," said Hodan Omar, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), in an email.

Omar noted that although many of the administration's AI priorities—such as accelerating related infrastructure construction and addressing energy demands—have already been signaled through Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance documents, White House fact sheets, and policy speeches, the plan is expected to consolidate these signals into clearer policy direction. Omar focuses on AI policy research at ITIF's Center for Data Innovation.

"The plan should provide businesses with much-needed clarity on the federal government's direction—which priorities it will support, which barriers it intends to lower, and how aggressively it plans to expand national AI infrastructure," she said.

According to a press release from event organizers, the speech will be Trump's first major address on AI since the start of his second term. The event is co-hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum, which aims to bring together Washington policymakers and Silicon Valley leaders, and the All-In podcast, a tech-focused podcast whose hosts include Sacks.

The executive order signed by Trump on January 23 reaffirmed his administration's commitment to cementing U.S. global AI dominance, while requiring heads of federal agencies to review Biden-era AI policies and regulations and revoke any provisions that could hinder American innovation in the field.

"A notable characteristic of this administration is its focus on innovation-promoting policies, with relatively less attention paid to the potential harms of AI," said Paul Lekas, head of global public policy and government affairs at the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), in an interview.

Lekas expects the administration's action plan to focus on areas such as AI infrastructure and public-private partnerships to drive innovation. He also said the industry hopes the government will take a stance on the growing fragmentation of state-level AI regulations.

Earlier this month, during the final stages of passing the so-called Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Senate removed a provision that would have prohibited states from regulating AI for the next 10 years.

"I think this discussion will start to heat up once we understand the White House's position and the content of the action plan," Lekas said. "We believe a federal regulatory framework is the right path. Addressing such technology on a state-by-state basis is very difficult, and uniformity is crucial."

In comments submitted to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) earlier this year, SIIA stated that the AI action plan "should advance measures to take precedence over burdensome and inconsistent state legislation and support U.S. AI leadership on the global stage."

According to the White House, OSTP received more than 10,000 public comments from academia, industry groups, state governments, and others regarding the administration's efforts to develop the action plan.

On his first day in office in his second term, Trump revoked a comprehensive Biden-era AI executive order that had required safeguards against AI technology risks such as privacy harms and worker displacement.

"There is a view that the previous administration imposed too many restrictions on AI innovation," Lekas said.

But the Trump administration has not completely avoided AI regulation, noted Matthew Ferraro, a partner at the law firm Crowell & Moring. Ferraro focuses on complex regulatory matters at the intersection of advanced technology, national security, and crisis management, and served as a senior advisor on cybersecurity and emerging technology issues at the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration.

"The White House has made clear that AI should not be 'woke.' In a sense, that itself is a form of regulation," Ferraro said.