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Skadden Legal Analysis: Biden AI Executive Order Withdrawal
webSkadden legal analysis relevant to understanding the regulatory implications of the Biden AI EO withdrawal, particularly for compute governance and the US AISI's future role.
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Summary
Skadden law firm provides legal analysis of the withdrawal of President Biden's broad AI executive order, examining the implications for AI governance, compute thresholds, and the US AI Safety Institute. The piece covers how the rescission affects existing regulatory frameworks and what it signals for future AI policy direction under the new administration.
Key Points
- •Biden's sweeping AI Executive Order was withdrawn, removing mandates including compute-threshold reporting requirements for frontier AI developers
- •The withdrawal has implications for the US AI Safety Institute (US AISI) and its authority and funding
- •Legal analysis examines which regulatory obligations survive the EO withdrawal versus those that lapse
- •The piece signals a shift in federal AI governance approach, potentially toward lighter-touch or industry-led frameworks
- •Companies that had begun compliance efforts face uncertainty about ongoing obligations and future regulatory direction
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| US Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI | Policy | 91.0 |
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On January 23, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “ [Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/31/2025-02172/removing-barriers-to-american-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence)” (Trump AI Executive Order). The Trump AI Executive Order assigns select advisers to the president to coordinate with the heads of federal agencies and departments, among others, to develop an “action plan” to “sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance” within 180 days.
The Trump AI Executive Order comes days after President Trump revoked the Biden administration’s 2023 [Executive Order 14110](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/01/2023-24283/safe-secure-and-trustworthy-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence), “Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence” (Biden AI Executive Order).
The Trump AI Executive Order does not automatically repeal everything that was already put in place under the Biden AI Executive Order. Rather, the new order directs Michael Kratsios (assistant to the president for science and technology), David Sacks (special adviser for AI and crypto) and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz to review all policies, directives, regulations, orders and other actions taken pursuant to the Biden AI Executive Order.
Agency actions that are “inconsistent with” or “present obstacles to” the goals of the Trump AI Executive Order are to be suspended, revised or rescinded.
What changes will result from this review is an open question. Many of the policy directives included in the Biden AI Executive Order, such as promoting competition and innovation in the AI sector and maintaining the U.S. role as a global leader in AI, would seem to be consistent with the policy goals articulated in the Trump AI Executive Order.
It also remains to be seen whether the recent announcement of DeepSeek, an AI model released by Chinese quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, will cause any shift in the Trump administration’s approach to AI. That model is alleged to have been built at a fraction of the cost and with far less computing power than models built by U.S. competitors. President Trump has said the release of DeepSeek “should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser focused on competing.”
[See the full _Executive Briefing_ publication](https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/executive-briefing/executive-briefing)
_This memorandum is provided by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and its affiliates for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This memorandum is considered advertising under applicable state laws._
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