Trump Signs Order Barring 'Woke' AI From Federal Contracts as 28-Page Plan Targets China
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Sep 18
Trump Signs Order Barring 'Woke' AI From Federal Contracts as 28-Page Plan Targets China
2 articles · Updated · WIRED · Sep 18
Summary
A new executive order directs federal agencies to avoid buying AI models deemed to sacrifice “truthfulness and accuracy” to ideological agendas, putting procurement power behind Trump’s push against “woke” AI.
The 28-page AI action plan pairs that order with instructions to strip Biden-era references to misinformation, DEI and climate change, while framing the broader strategy as a bid to outcompete China in AI.
Big AI companies have not publicly challenged the policy even though federal contracts are a major prize; OpenAI says it is already close to objectivity, while Google and Anthropic welcomed other parts of the plan.
Senator Edward Markey warned the order could pressure chatbots to avoid speech that angers the White House, highlighting a wider fight over whether procurement rules can steer private AI outputs and speech.