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Ethics & PolicyUS AI policyexecutive orderEO 14110

United States AI Executive Orders

5 min readUpdated August 2026
United States AI Executive Orders
Type
Presidential directives (US federal policy)
Key documents
EO 14110 (2023), EO 14179 (2025)
Issued by
President of the United States
First major order
Executive Order 14110, October 2023
Related
EU AI Act, AI regulation in Malaysia, ASEAN AI governance

United States AI executive orders are directives issued by the President of the United States that establish federal policy on the development and use of artificial intelligence. The two most consequential examples are Executive Order 14110 of October 2023, which set out the first comprehensive federal framework for AI safety and innovation, and Executive Order 14179 of January 2025, which replaced it with a deregulatory approach emphasising American AI leadership. Because the United States hosts the world's leading AI companies, these orders have significant global effects on AI policy, standards, and trade.[1][2]

History

The United States has no comprehensive federal AI statute, so presidents have used executive orders — directives to federal agencies that carry the force of law for the executive branch — to shape AI policy. In October 2023, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14110, "Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence," the first major US government action specifically addressing AI. The order required developers of the most powerful AI models to report safety test results to the government, directed federal agencies to develop AI safety standards, and addressed issues including algorithmic discrimination, privacy, and the AI workforce.[1]

In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14148, which rescinded EO 14110 among other actions, and Executive Order 14179, "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," which directed agencies to eliminate regulatory obstacles to AI development and prioritise US competitiveness. The 2025 order revoked the reporting and safety-testing obligations of the 2023 order and oriented federal AI policy toward innovation and national security.[2][3]

A subsequent initiative, the America's AI Action Plan, was released in July 2025 following a public consultation, setting out goals for AI infrastructure, energy, and export policy. The rapid reversal between the two administrations illustrates how much US AI policy depends on the executive branch and how it can shift sharply with a change of president.[4]

Key Concepts and Technology

Executive orders on AI operate through federal agency direction: rather than creating new laws, they instruct agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Defense to take specific actions within their existing authority. EO 14110, for example, invoked the Defense Production Act to require developers of large AI models to share safety information with the government, and directed NIST to develop standards for AI safety, security, and testing.[1]

EO 14179 reversed this approach, instructing agencies to identify and remove regulatory barriers to AI and to prioritise American leadership, while maintaining national security-related restrictions such as export controls on advanced AI chips to certain countries. Both orders sit alongside other US policy instruments, including the Chips and Science Act of 2022, which funds domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and export control rules covering AI accelerators.[2][3]

A recurring theme in US AI executive orders is the distinction between safety regulation — requiring testing, transparency, and risk management for powerful models — and innovation policy — promoting investment, research, and deployment. The 2023 and 2025 orders represent opposite emphases on this spectrum, and both have been studied internationally as models for how governments without comprehensive AI legislation can act through executive power.[1][2]

Applications and Impact

US AI executive orders affect federal procurement of AI systems, the obligations of AI companies with US government contracts, and the international posture of American AI policy. EO 14110 led to the creation of the US AI Safety Institute within NIST, the expansion of federal guidance on AI in hiring and housing, and increased federal support for AI research. Its rescission in 2025 reshaped the compliance landscape for AI developers, who no longer faced mandatory federal reporting, while state-level AI laws continued to expand.[1][4]

The orders also interact with US export controls on AI hardware, which restrict the sale of advanced semiconductors to China and other countries — a policy area that directly affects global AI supply chains, including Southeast Asian data centre and cloud markets.[2][3]

>See Also

References

🇲🇾Malaysian Context

For Malaysia, US AI executive orders matter primarily through their effect on the global AI supply chain and on the policy choices available to the Malaysian government. Export controls tied to US AI policy affect the availability of advanced AI chips for data centres being built in Malaysia — the country has attracted billions of dollars in data centre investment in Johor, Selangor, and other states — and shape which hardware and cloud services are accessible to Malaysian companies.[3]

Malaysia's own approach, coordinated by the National AI Office (NAIO) under the Ministry of Digital, has drawn on multiple international models: the AI Governance and Ethics Framework references the OECD AI Principles and the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance, while policy makers have studied both the EU AI Act's rights-based regulation and the US emphasis on innovation. The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), amended in 2024, governs the data aspects of AI deployment in Malaysia. The divergence between US and EU approaches gives Malaysia a policy space to calibrate its own rules for responsible AI adoption.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑[Executive Order 14110 — Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence — Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/01/2023-24263/safe-secure-and-trustworthy-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence)
  2. ↑[Executive Order 14179 — Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence — Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/28/2025-02015/removing-barriers-to-american-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence)
  3. ↑[Executive Order 14148 — Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions — Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/28/2025-02005/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions)
  4. ↑[AI.gov — US federal AI initiatives](https://ai.gov/)
  5. ↑[National AI Office Malaysia — AIWiki](https://aiwiki.com.my/wiki/national-ai-office-malaysia)
  6. ↑[MDEC — Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation](https://mdec.my/)
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