In November 2024, voters in the U.S. elected Donald Trump to a second, non-consecutive term as the nation’s 47th President. Given U.S. prominence in the world, and the strong executive powers of the President, Trump and his administration will have a massive impact on everything from national security to the economy to the tenor of civic discourse—both inside and outside America.
One area of impact being watched especially closely by policy experts: computer science.
Technology powered by computer science, perhaps more so than at any other time in history, is expected to play a starring role in U.S. economic, cultural, and military strategies over the next four years. The world is in the midst of an unprecedented generative AI boom. The U.S. is engaged in a technology arms race with China. Furiously fast advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cryptocurrency, and other cutting-edge technologies threaten to upend business and society as usual. (OpenAI’s Sam Altman even told Bloomberg he thinks artificial general intelligence will “probably get developed during this president’s term.”)
That makes the Trump administration’s actions on anything related to computer science very, very important, with enormous implications not only for U.S. citizens, but every person on the planet who interacts with AI, deals with cybersecurity threats, or uses technology in their work and life.
So what can we expect from the Trump administration when it comes to computer science and related technologies? And how different will the next four years be compared to the administration of President Joe Biden?
According to experts, buckle up, because what’s coming next is unlikely to look like what came before.
Trump and AI
The Trump administration’s actions in computer science-related domains are likely to hit on a few major themes, said Keegan McBride, a researcher of AI, government, and policy at the U.K.’s University of Oxford.
“The main points are going to be a movement away from AI safety, unleashing American AI innovation, and an America-first approach to technology and AI development,” McBride said. If that sounds like a lot of AI-focused priorities, it’s for good reason. Experts believe one of Trump’s biggest impacts in computer science policy could be related to AI, especially because his approach is expected to dramatically differ from that of the Biden administration.
“Under the Trump administration, the U.S. was likely to embrace a deregulated, industry-focused approach to AI,” said Muhammad Salar Khan, a professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. That’s in stark contrast to the previous administration’s executive order and policy proposals prioritizing caution and heavy regulation, he said.
The biggest immediate change to expect?
On his first day in office, Trump rescinded Biden’s main executive order on AI, the Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. The order put a high priority on responsible AI development and AI safety. It instituted a number of directives that involved the federal government in AI safety testing and monitoring. Getting rid of it was explicitly promised in the 2024 Republican platform, which noted:
“We will repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology. In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.”
Trump may also move to preempt states seeking to implement their own AI regulations, according to McBride, including efforts similar to the failed SB-1047 bill in California. SB-1047 required AI developers to mitigate the harm of their models by taking precautions like installing “kill switches” and undergoing compliance audits. Because the bill targeted companies developing huge AI models in California—models used by the rest of the world—the law would have had huge impacts well outside of just the state.
Now, the Trump administration can’t outright prevent or repeal state-level AI legislation, but it could use its control of Congress to enact federal laws that prevent a new SB-1047. Or, it can promote AI acceleration at the federal level to develop technology faster than states can legislate it. In fact, it seems like the administration is doing just that in its first weeks as it rolls back Biden-era policies on AI safety under the argument that they stifle innovation.
Further from home, another big focus for the administration will be beating China on AI, which is a continuation of the Biden administration’s focus. That could result in broader, stronger export controls that specifically target China’s AI industry on top of the restrictions on chips and technology that exist today. With rising competition from China, Trump is also likely to ramp up investments in military AI applications.
“The administration’s focus will be on economic growth and preserving U.S. leadership in AI, potentially by tightening export restrictions on advanced AI technologies to protect national security,” said Khan.
Keeping AI dominance in the hands of American firms will also likely be a focus now that DeepSeek, an open-weights model released by a Chinese AI lab, is challenging industry heavyweights like OpenAI. DeepSeek’s latest model claims to be on par with OpenAI’s best technology, while allegedly costing only a fraction of the money and time to build.
Other Trump AI priorities likely will include massive investments in American-based energy and infrastructure to power domestic AI.
Trump has already announced a $20-billion commitment from Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani to build data centers in the U.S. The White House has also promoted the gargantuan Project Stargate, which is a joint effort by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years. These types of projects may aim to replace the infrastructure-focused CHIPS Act passed by the Biden administration. While the CHIPS Act hasn’t been repealed, the money it dolls out in subsidies may be delayed, reviewed, and/or frozen as Trump-endorsed initiatives like the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seek to cut federal spending.
What about the impact of all of this on the environment and sustainability? Perhaps out of character for the bombastic President, expect to hear…very little. The administration is notoriously skeptical of environmental concerns and extremely pro-conventional energy. It’s likely that the administration’s response to energy concerns will be to simply build more infrastructure and extract more energy to power the AI revolution.
“In general, the administration is expected to prioritize private sector innovation and technological dominance, potentially sidelining concerns around AI fairness and bias in favor of economic competitiveness,” Khan said.
Those kinds of moves aren’t going to make some parties happy, said McBride. “This will likely put the U.S. in confrontation with European regulators and the emerging AI safety industry,” he said.
However, that’s not all bad, depending on where you’re sitting.
“From the perspective of the American AI industry. I think it would be hard to classify Trump’s win as anything other than great news,” McBride said, citing the administration’s emphasis on lax regulation and support for innovation.
Cybersecurity, Cryptocurrency, and Immigration
Despite its prominence, AI isn’t the only area related to computing on which Trump is likely to leave his imprint.
The Trump administration is expected to take a similar approach to cybersecurity policy, adopting a deregulated, industry-driven model, said Khan. That model would emphasize private sector responsibility and reduced government oversight. “Companies will take the lead in securing their infrastructure, relying on industry standards rather than mandatory regulations—a shift that could accelerate innovation but risk uneven protection across sectors,” Khan said.
The cornerstone of this approach will be national security. Khan said it’s likely to expect increased investments in cyber defense, aggressive retaliatory strategies against adversaries like China and possibly Russia, and tighter export controls on cybersecurity technologies.
Beyond AI and cybersecurity, the Trump administration also is likely to focus on computer science-related policy areas that align with the administration’s broader goals of economic competitiveness and technological dominance.
For instance, blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation may receive significant attention, including efforts to encourage innovation while addressing security and fraud concerns. Trump himself is involved in several crypto ventures. During the campaign, he heavily promoted Bitcoin and became the first major party nominee to accept cryptocurrency donations. Crypto, like AI, also got a shout-out in his campaign platform, which stated:
“Republicans will end Democrats’ unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control.”
Ultimately, however, one of the biggest impacts Trump has on computer science in the U.S. may not be directly related to the technology, but to many of the people building and researching it.
“Restrictions on immigration could also play a significant role undermining U.S. advantage in STEM,” said Daniel Schiff, a professor of technology policy at Purdue University.
Before Trump even took office, the debate over H-1B visas for high-skilled workers already had sparked a firestorm within the MAGA coalition. The H-1B visas allows employers to hire foreign professionals in specialty occupations, many of which are in technology and computing. Opposition to these visas from some MAGA nativists caused a rift between this wing of the movement and supporters in Silicon Valley who often use H-1B visas to hire talented immigrants.
Nearly half of U.S. researchers in AI alone face significant immigration issues, said Schiff, to say nothing of computer science professionals and researchers more broadly working at and founding companies in the U.S.
“Concrete changes to immigration policy—or even symbolic changes (such as perceptions of receptivity and precarity)—could undermine U.S. advantage, leading top researchers and companies to move to other countries,” Schiff said.
Big policies, Even Bigger Personalities
The other factor to consider in what happens to computer science under a Trump administration is the group of people currently influencing the President.
“A possible wildcard in this transition is the role of big technology companies and AI companies,” said Schiff. The new administration is packed with formal and informal advisors who hail from Silicon Valley, many of whom have voiced strong support for technological deregulation and acceleration.
These include: Elon Musk in a highly visible role advising Trump; Vice President J.D. Vance, who is backed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel; venture capitalist David Sacks, who is now the administration’s AI and Crypto “czar,” and Marc Andreessen, who reportedly interviewed some candidates for positions in the administration. Tech leaders like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison have also publicly bent the knee to Trump.
“There are both new philosophical interests as well as commercial interests in play,” said Schiff.
How these philosophies and interests play out, and how well the personalities involved work together, could be the single determining factor to how computer science in the U.S. evolves in the next four years.
Further Reading
- Javers, E. and Breuninger, K.
Trump announces $20 billion foreign investment to build new U.S. data centers, CNBC, Jan. 7, 2025, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/07/trump-investment-hussain-sajwani-damac-data-centers.html - Tyrangiel, J.
Sam Altman on ChatGPT’s First Two Years, Elon Musk and AI Under Trump, Bloomberg, Jan. 5, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-sam-altman-interview - 2024 GOP Platform, https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/
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