The US Executive Order on AI and What Happened Next

On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued the most detailed executive order on AI ever signed. In January 2025, President Trump rescinded it. The policy churn matters.

41 min · Reviewed 2026

EO 14110: What It Contained

Executive Order 14110, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, ran over 100 pages. It set requirements across eight agencies and touched almost every part of the federal government's relationship with AI.

Key provisions

Reporting requirements for training runs above 10^26 FLOPs (10^23 for biological models)
Safety test results sharing with the federal government for covered models
NIST tasked with developing AI safety standards and the AI Safety Institute
Export controls and KYC rules for US IaaS providers serving foreign entities
Civil rights, labor, and housing AI guidance
Agency AI use policies and Chief AI Officer roles

What changed in January 2025

On January 20, 2025, President Trump rescinded EO 14110 on his first day in office. In its place came Executive Order 14179, Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (January 23, 2025), which emphasizes deregulation and US competitiveness. A new AI Action Plan followed in mid-2025.

Biden EO 14110: safety-first framing, reporting requirements, civil rights focus
Trump EO 14179: competitiveness-first framing, deregulatory, open to state preemption
NIST AI Safety Institute survived under new name/mandate: US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)
Reporting requirements were substantially loosened but some frameworks persisted

An executive order is a statement of priorities. A law is a constraint. We have had many of the first and few of the second.
— AI policy researcher, common framing

The big idea: US AI policy oscillates with each administration. The real baseline is what agencies build while they can — NIST standards, procurement rules, voluntary commitments — because those persist through political change.

End-of-lesson check

15 questions · take it digitally for instant feedback at tendril.neural-forge.io/learn/quiz/end-safety2-us-executive-order-creators

Which executive order number was signed by President Biden in October 2023 to establish comprehensive US AI policy?
1. EO 14200
2. EO 14027
3. EO 14179
4. EO 14110
What was the primary focus of Executive Order 14110 issued by the Biden administration?
1. Safety-first approach with reporting requirements and civil rights protections
2. Deregulation and US competitiveness in AI development
3. International AI collaboration and open-source mandates
4. Federal procurement reform for cloud computing
What legal authority did EO 14110 invoke to require companies to report large AI training runs to the government?
1. The Administrative Procedure Act
2. The International Traffic in Arms Regulations
3. The National Emergencies Act of 1976
4. The Defense Production Act from the Korean War era
Under EO 14110, at what computational threshold were developers required to report training runs for general-purpose AI models?
1. 10^26 FLOPs
2. 10^20 FLOPs
3. 10^15 FLOPs
4. 10^30 FLOPs
When did President Trump rescind EO 14110?
1. March 15, 2025, after the AI Action Plan
2. December 1, 2024, before the election
3. November 3, 2024, during the campaign
4. January 20, 2025, on his first day in office
What was the title of the executive order that replaced EO 14110 under the Trump administration?
1. Protecting US AI Infrastructure from Foreign Threats
2. Promoting Open Source AI Development Nationwide
3. Ensuring American Dominance in Machine Learning
4. Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence
What happened to the NIST AI Safety Institute after the change in administration?
1. It was transferred to the Department of Defense
2. It was renamed to the US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)
3. It was eliminated entirely due to budget cuts
4. It was merged with the Federal Trade Commission
Which statement best describes the fundamental difference between EO 14110 and EO 14179?
1. Military AI versus civilian AI applications
2. Safety-first versus competitiveness-first framing
3. Immigration policy versus trade policy
4. International treaty versus domestic law
What key insight does the lesson provide about the durability of US AI policy?
1. Federal agencies have no power to implement AI standards
2. Congress has passed comprehensive AI legislation
3. Executive orders are permanent and cannot be changed
4. Executive orders can be easily reversed by future presidents; durable policy requires Congress
What type of AI legislation has Congress actually passed so far?
1. Comprehensive AI safety frameworks
2. International AI treaty ratifications
3. Narrow statutes around deepfakes and elections
4. Federal agency AI budgeting bills
The lesson notes that EO 14110 included guidance on AI use in which of the following areas?
1. Public school curricula
2. Civil rights, labor, and housing
3. Military weapons deployment
4. State criminal courts
What concept does the lesson use to describe how US AI policy changes with each administration?
1. Technological stagnation
2. Bipartisan consensus
3. Policy oscillation
4. Regulatory capture
Under EO 14179, what approach was taken regarding state-level AI regulations?
1. The order was open to state preemption
2. A federal moratorium on all state AI legislation was imposed
3. States were required to create stricter AI laws
4. States were given authority over federal AI agencies
Which federal agency was tasked with developing AI safety standards under EO 14110?
1. The Central Intelligence Agency
2. The Department of Energy
3. The Federal Trade Commission
4. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
What happened to reporting requirements for large AI training runs after EO 14179 was issued?
1. They were eliminated completely with no alternative
2. They were moved to the Department of Defense
3. They were substantially loosened but some frameworks persisted
4. They were expanded to include all AI companies

← Back to interactive lesson

Tendril · Creators · Ethics & Society

The US Executive Order on AI and What Happened Next

On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued the most detailed executive order on AI ever signed. In January 2025, President Trump rescinded it. The policy churn matters.

41 min · Reviewed 2026

EO 14110: What It Contained

Key provisions

Reporting requirements for training runs above 10^26 FLOPs (10^23 for biological models)
Safety test results sharing with the federal government for covered models
NIST tasked with developing AI safety standards and the AI Safety Institute
Export controls and KYC rules for US IaaS providers serving foreign entities
Civil rights, labor, and housing AI guidance
Agency AI use policies and Chief AI Officer roles

What changed in January 2025

Biden EO 14110: safety-first framing, reporting requirements, civil rights focus
Trump EO 14179: competitiveness-first framing, deregulatory, open to state preemption
NIST AI Safety Institute survived under new name/mandate: US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)
Reporting requirements were substantially loosened but some frameworks persisted

An executive order is a statement of priorities. A law is a constraint. We have had many of the first and few of the second.
— AI policy researcher, common framing

End-of-lesson check

15 questions · take it digitally for instant feedback at tendril.neural-forge.io/learn/quiz/end-safety2-us-executive-order-creators

Which executive order number was signed by President Biden in October 2023 to establish comprehensive US AI policy?
1. EO 14200
2. EO 14027
3. EO 14179
4. EO 14110
What was the primary focus of Executive Order 14110 issued by the Biden administration?
1. Safety-first approach with reporting requirements and civil rights protections
2. Deregulation and US competitiveness in AI development
3. International AI collaboration and open-source mandates
4. Federal procurement reform for cloud computing
What legal authority did EO 14110 invoke to require companies to report large AI training runs to the government?
1. The Administrative Procedure Act
2. The International Traffic in Arms Regulations
3. The National Emergencies Act of 1976
4. The Defense Production Act from the Korean War era
Under EO 14110, at what computational threshold were developers required to report training runs for general-purpose AI models?
1. 10^26 FLOPs
2. 10^20 FLOPs
3. 10^15 FLOPs
4. 10^30 FLOPs
When did President Trump rescind EO 14110?
1. March 15, 2025, after the AI Action Plan
2. December 1, 2024, before the election
3. November 3, 2024, during the campaign
4. January 20, 2025, on his first day in office
What was the title of the executive order that replaced EO 14110 under the Trump administration?
1. Protecting US AI Infrastructure from Foreign Threats
2. Promoting Open Source AI Development Nationwide
3. Ensuring American Dominance in Machine Learning
4. Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence
What happened to the NIST AI Safety Institute after the change in administration?
1. It was transferred to the Department of Defense
2. It was renamed to the US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)
3. It was eliminated entirely due to budget cuts
4. It was merged with the Federal Trade Commission
Which statement best describes the fundamental difference between EO 14110 and EO 14179?
1. Military AI versus civilian AI applications
2. Safety-first versus competitiveness-first framing
3. Immigration policy versus trade policy
4. International treaty versus domestic law
What key insight does the lesson provide about the durability of US AI policy?
1. Federal agencies have no power to implement AI standards
2. Congress has passed comprehensive AI legislation
3. Executive orders are permanent and cannot be changed
4. Executive orders can be easily reversed by future presidents; durable policy requires Congress
What type of AI legislation has Congress actually passed so far?
1. Comprehensive AI safety frameworks
2. International AI treaty ratifications
3. Narrow statutes around deepfakes and elections
4. Federal agency AI budgeting bills
The lesson notes that EO 14110 included guidance on AI use in which of the following areas?
1. Public school curricula
2. Civil rights, labor, and housing
3. Military weapons deployment
4. State criminal courts
What concept does the lesson use to describe how US AI policy changes with each administration?
1. Technological stagnation
2. Bipartisan consensus
3. Policy oscillation
4. Regulatory capture
Under EO 14179, what approach was taken regarding state-level AI regulations?
1. The order was open to state preemption
2. A federal moratorium on all state AI legislation was imposed
3. States were required to create stricter AI laws
4. States were given authority over federal AI agencies
Which federal agency was tasked with developing AI safety standards under EO 14110?
1. The Central Intelligence Agency
2. The Department of Energy
3. The Federal Trade Commission
4. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
What happened to reporting requirements for large AI training runs after EO 14179 was issued?
1. They were eliminated completely with no alternative
2. They were moved to the Department of Defense
3. They were substantially loosened but some frameworks persisted
4. They were expanded to include all AI companies

← Back to interactive lesson