Commerce rescinds Biden-era AI export controls

The Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that it has rescinded a Biden administration AI expert control rule and taken additional actions to strengthen export controls on semiconductors. 

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security released a statement saying that the Biden administration’s AI Diffusion Rule would have “stifled American innovation,” burdened companies with regulatory requirements and undermined U.S. diplomatic relations. 

“The Trump Administration will pursue a bold, inclusive strategy to American AI technology with trusted foreign countries around the world, while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffery Kessler. “At the same time, we reject the Biden Administration’s attempt to impose its own ill-conceived and counterproductive AI policies on the American people.”

The new actions BIS announced alongside the rule rescission aim to still offer export controls for overseas AI chips. Among the actions, Commerce issued new guidance stating that the use of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s Ascend chips anywhere in the world would violate U.S. export controls. 

Other forthcoming guidance will warn the public about potential consequences of allowing U.S. AI chips to be used to train Chinese AI models and will aim to help companies protect supply chains against diversion tactics. 

The Trump administration’s actions on semiconductor chip export controls don’t touch on some aspects of the Biden administration’s rule, which specifically targeted advanced general processing unit chips and selected closed AI model weights as a means to further reduce national security risks to the U.S. 

An updated replacement rule will be published in the Federal Register “in the future,” per the release.

Companies like NVIDIA had opposed the Biden administration’s AI Diffusion Rule upon its announcement, saying that the rule would manipulate market outcomes and undermine U.S. tech leadership. 

“We welcome the Administration’s leadership and new direction on AI policy,” NVIDIA said in a statement last week. “With the AI Diffusion Rule revoked, America will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the next industrial revolution and create high-paying U.S. jobs, build new U.S.-supplied infrastructure, and alleviate the trade deficit.”

Last week, other major private sector players testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee about the importance of having the world use U.S.-made AI systems to secure market dominance, lead in innovation and chart use standards. 

“I think if the sort of mental model is winning diffusion instead of stopping diffusion, that directionally seems right,” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, testified on May 9. “That doesn't mean there's no guardrails.” 

Lisa Su, the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, also testified that her company was “happy” to see the Biden-era rule rescinded. 

“We view this as an opportunity to really simplify,” Su said. “We've talked about the need to drive widespread adoption of our technology and our ecosystem. You know, simple rules that can be easily applied that really allow our allies to protect our technology while still utilizing the best that the United States has to offer, I think, is a good start.”