The United States has long been the world leader in technological innovation, but the competitive landscape for AI is rapidly changing. Americans of all political stripes should all be able to agree that the U.S. cannot rely on our adversaries for one of the most critical technologies of this generation.
President Donald J. Trump’s recent announcement of a $500 billion private sector investment in America’s artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure comes at a critical time for our national security and standing as a global leader.
China is racing to become the leader in AI by 2030. Over the last decade, China made AI one of its top national priorities by investing hundreds of billions on research and development to build its AI infrastructure. President Trump correctly recognized the United States must do the same to outpace our top global adversary.
The full scale of China’s advancements in AI recently came into view with the rollout Deepseek R1, which rivals ChatGPT in its capabilities, but cost far less to create. DeepSeek R1 quickly rose to the top of download charts and U.S. AI stocks plummeted. American companies like Meta and OpenAI are correct to sound the alarm over what it would take to compete with a Chinese platform like Deepseek.
CNN reported, “Meta last week said it would spend upward of $65 billion this year on AI development. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, last year said the AI industry would need trillions of dollars in investment to support the development of in-demand chips needed to power the electricity-hungry data centers that run the sector’s complex models.”
But history tends to repeat itself, and the U.S. has been here before.
Just as the space race during the Cold War propelled the United States to become the global leader in technology and innovation, the race toward AI dominance is sure to do the same.
AI is our generation’s new-age space race. However, instead of rockets and astronauts, we must turn toward empowering American companies to enhance their data, algorithms, and computing power. This can only be achieved through a committed partnership between industry and the U.S. government.
The U.S. government must prioritize American AI as a national initiative, providing strong support to the private sector to foster innovation and ensure global competitiveness. It must also prioritize a strong intellectual property (IP) system, as America cannot win the AI race without strong, reliable, and pro-innovation IP laws that support American founders and businesses.
As former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and his policy organization the ALFA Institute have said: "We need to win both the energy and AI race. This will allow America to capture and capitalize on the transformative promise of this technology, but also to assure that AI is a tool for expanding opportunity for many and not oppression by a few."
This isn’t a U.S. political race, this is an international race America must win. Because whoever wins the AI race will undoubtedly have the ability to shape and drive everything from geopolitics to the global economy to medical advancements and defense warfare.
President Trump and his Administration have made it clear they will take action to retain American leadership in AI, and for that I applaud them.
