After delivering a rambling celebration of tariffs and a routine about women’s sports, President Donald Trump entertained a crowd, which was there to hear about his new AI Action Plan, with one his favorite topics: “wokeness.” Trump complained that AI companies under former President Joe Biden “had to hire all woke people,” adding that it is “so uncool to be woke.” And AI models themselves had been “infused with partisan bias,” he said, including the hated specter of “critical race theory.” Fortunately for the audience, Trump had a solution: he signed an executive order titled “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government,” directing government agencies “not to procure models that sacrifice truthfulness and accuracy to ideological agendas.”
To anyone with a cursory knowledge of politics and the tech industry, the real situation here is obvious: the Trump administration is using government funds to pressure AI companies into parroting Trumpian talking points — probably not just in specialized government products, but in chatbots that companies and ordinary people use.
Trump’s order asserts that agencies must only procure large language models (LLMs) that are “truthful in responding to user prompts seeking factual information or analysis,” “prioritize historical accuracy, scientific inquiry, and objectivity,” and are “neutral, nonpartisan tools that do not manipulate responses in favor of ideological dogmas such as DEI.” DEI, of course, is diversity, equity, and inclusion, which Trump defines in this context as:
The suppression or distortion of factual information about race or sex; manipulation of racial or sexual representation in model outputs; incorporation of concepts like critical race theory, transgenderism, unconscious bias, intersectionality, and systemic racism; and discrimination on the basis of race or sex.
(In reality, DEI was typically used to refer to civil rights, social justice, and diversity programs before being co-opted as a Trump and MAGA bogeyman.)
The Office of Management and Budget has been directed to order further guidance within 120 days.
While we’re still waiting on some of the precise details about what the order means, one issue seems unavoidable: it will plausibly affect not only government services, but the entire field of major LLMs.
