Podcast, policy, and pomp in DC at the surreal celebration of Trump’s AI Action Plan

And so, as the Trump administration unveiled its highly anticipated AI policy plan on Wednesday, it seemed only fitting that the ceremonies and celebrations took the form of a live podcast in the nation’s capital. 

David Sacks, Trump’s AI czar, shared the stage with his cohosts from the “All-In” podcast on Wednesday, walking through the various elements of the new 28-page AI Action Plan and interviewing a rotating cast of guests that included U.S. Vice President (and former venture capitalist) JD Vance, U.S. Director of Science and Tech Policy Michael Kratsios, and various tech industry bigwigs including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. 

Sitting on plush white chairs and backed by American flags, patriotic music, and flashy videos of giant data centers and factories, the event’s hosts (the podcast’s self-described “besties”) and guests discussed the AI arms race with China, supply chain risks, healthcare, education, and “giving the American workers superpowers.”  

Artificial intelligence is “not destroying jobs,” said David Friedberg, one of the podcast hosts and a venture capitalist. The media, he said, has created a false narrative that ignores the “immense job creation underway.”

As Vice President Vance came on stage, the audience of several hundred people rose to its feet and cheered. “We have the best hardware and software, but our edge is not something we can rest on our laurels,” Vance said. “If we regulate ourselves to death we should blame our own leaders.”

The AI Action Plan at the center of the discussion was commissioned by Trump after he took office in January and summarily revoked the Biden administration’s executive order on AI safety. Sacks, the AI czar, along with Sriram Krishnan, a former VC at Andreessen Horowitz who currently serves as a senior policy advisor to the White House, produced the report over the past six months. The report contains more than 90 policy recommendations to spur the development of AI and maintain U.S. supremacy in the highly competitive technology.

Among the report’s recommendations: loosening federal and state regulations perceived as constraining AI development, increasing the number of AI data centers and the supply of energy to power AI, facilitating the export of U.S.-made technology to approved countries while limiting China’s access, and taking steps to ensure that large language models used by the government are free of ideological bias relating to climate change, diversity, and other issues.

The U.S. must win the AI arms race, said Sacks as the event kicked off. “The consequences of losing the race are unthinkable.”  

Sacks said the AI report had three big pillars: accelerating innovation; building U.S. AI infrastructure; and leading in international diplomacy and security. 

Sacks, whose VC firm Craft Ventures has invested in startups including Airbnb, Reddit, and defense startup Anduril, said that he never expected to go into government until Trump came on the All-In podcast. Sacks threw a fundraiser for Trump at his San Francisco home in 2024. 

Wednesday’s event, at Washington DC’s neo-classical Andrew Mellon auditorium building where President Franklin D Roosevelt announced military conscription in 1940 and the North Atlantic Treaty was signed nine years later, made for a sometimes surreal display of the Trump administration’s fusion of politics, policy, and entertainment. And it underscored the extent to which Silicon Valley’s leaders are keen to foster good relations with the Trump administration. Other guest speakers at the event included Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, James Litisnky, the CEO of rare earth minerals company MP Materials, and AMD CEO Lisa Su.

“We are seeing this incredibly large demand in AI,” said Su, stressing the company’s commitment to produce some chips in Arizona through a facility built by TSMC.

“Today’s AI action plan is an excellent blueprint,” said Su.