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The Trump administration backed off former President Joe Biden’s executive order that sets rules around the development and deployment of AI. Since then, the government has taken a step back and thus regulated the technology.
At a three-hour hearing on the Senate Business, Science and Transportation Committee, executives including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AMD CEO Lisa SU, Coreweave co-founder and CEO Michael Intrator and Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith urged policy makers to simplify the process of infrastructure around AI development.
Executives told policy makers that speeding up allowances can enable new data centers, power plants power data centers, and even enable manufacturers to support the AI Tech stack and keep the country competitive with China. They also talked about the need for more skilled workers, such as electricians, mitigating software talent immigration, and encouraging “AI proliferation” or adopting generated AI models in the United States and globally.
Altman, who just made his mark from visiting the company on the $500 billion Stargate project in Texas, told Senators that the U.S. is leading allegations of AI, but it needs more infrastructure, such as power plants, to fuel its next phase.
“I believe the next decade will be about rich intelligence and abundant energy. Ensuring that the United States is ahead of both, we can usher in these double revolutions that will change the world we live in in extremely positive ways,” Altman said.
The hearing was the Trump administration’s impact on the AI field. Committee chairman Ted Cruz, Senator of Texas, said he suggested creating an AI regulation sandbox.
Microsoft’s Smith said in his written testimony that American AI companies need to continue to innovate because “it’s a race where neither the company nor the country can win alone.”
Support AI technology stack
Microsoft’s Smith lists the AI Tech stack, which he says shows how important each sector in the industry is to innovation.
“We’re all together. If the United States will successfully lead the world, it needs infrastructure, it needs success at the platform level, it needs people who create applications,” Smith said.
“Innovation will use more infrastructure, faster licensing and more electricians,” he added.
AMD’s SU reiterates that “sustaining our prospects actually need to be excellent at every layer of the stack.”
“I think an open ecosystem is really the cornerstone of our leadership, which makes every place and every part of the innovation sector thinkable,” Sue said. “This reduces barriers to entry and strengthens security and creates a competitive market for creativity.”
This becomes even more important as AI models require more and more GPUs to train, and it is necessary to improve chip production, build more data centers and find ways to power their power. The Chips and Science Act is a Biden-era law that aims to produce semiconductors in the United States, but it proves slow and expensive to make the chips needed to power the world’s most powerful models.
In recent months, companies like Brain have announced plans to build more data centers to help process model training and reasoning.
Rest of current policies
The majority of Republican policymakers in the Senate made it clear at the hearing that the Trump administration would rather not regulate the development of AI than adopt a more market-driven driving approach. The administration has also driven more U.S.-centric growth, requiring businesses to use U.S. products and create more U.S. jobs.
However, executives pointed out that to keep U.S. AI competitive, companies need to gain international talent and, more importantly, clear export policies, so models made in the U.S. may be attractive to other countries.
“We need faster adoption, people call it AI proliferation,” Smith said. “If the United States is going to lead the world, we need to connect with the world.” Our global leadership relies on our ability to serve the world in the right way and in the ability to maintain trust in the rest of the world. ”
He added that it is crucial to remove the quantitative caps from both levels of countries, as these policies “send a message to 120 countries that cannot count on us to provide the AI they want and need.”
“There will be a lot of chips and models around the world,” Altman noted, reaffirming the leadership of American companies in the field.
There is some good news in the field of AI proliferation, because at the time of the hearing, the Commerce Department announced that it was revising Biden Administration’s rules that restrict which countries can receive chips made by U.S. companies. The rules are scheduled to come into effect on May 15.
While executives say government standards will help, they condemned any measures released by a similar “pre-recorded” model to the EU.
Open ecosystem
The generated AI occupies restricted space in technical regulations. On the one hand, there is a lack of rules that enable companies like Openai to develop technology without worrying about being affected. AI, on the other hand, touches people’s lives professionally and personally.
In some ways, executives have deviated from the way the Trump administration positioned U.S. growth. The hearings show that while AI companies want government support to speed up the process of expanding AI infrastructure, they also need to be more open to the rest of the world. It requires talent from abroad. It requires selling products and platforms to other countries.
Social media comments vary, with some pointing out that executives, especially Altman, have different views on regulation.
2023 Sam Altman: Tell Congress that a new agency should be created to require a strong AI model license
2025 Sam Altman: Telling Congress that requires licenses to have strong AI models will be “disastrous”
-Tom Simonite (@tsimonite) May 8, 2025
AI executives have begged for supervision. no longer. https://t.co/hcdfsj2lcj
— Daniel Patrick Forrest (@dpforter) May 9, 2025
Others point out that other countries may see where their AI policies fail.
It’s long and partially boring. However, if you work in a European country or the EU, this should be a must-see.
Senate and AMD CEO Sam Altman, CEO of Microsoft Chairman and Coreweave Founder, AMD CEO.
A repetitive topic: “How do we ensure failure…
-Jo Bhakdi (@jobhakdi) May 8, 2025
