Trump allies urge focus on workers as White House boosts AI development

A think tank with deep ties to the White House on Monday announced a $10 million initiative to develop artificial intelligence policies aimed at supporting workers, as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to accelerate AI research and development.

The plan signals an effort to equip the Republican Party with MAGA-friendly messaging and policy on the emerging technology, amid growing worries that artificial intelligence could automate jobs, increase unemployment and drive up energy costs for consumers. The president’s focus to date on swiftly developing AI to remain competitive with China has aligned the administration with tech industry leaders and alienated some of his prominent supporters.

Monday’s executive order creates the “Genesis Mission,” which will marshal federal computing resources and datasets to accelerate AI research to address “technology challenges of national importance.” Administration officials portrayed the program as the most significant effort to amass federal science resources since the Apollo 11 mission to land a man on the moon, but they did not announce any new funding for the effort.

The administration is looking to expand the government’s use of AI as the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a powerful conservative think tank that served as a holding house for top Trump officials in the years between his administrations, is developing a plan focused on workers whose jobs might be affected by the technology. During Trump’s time out of office, the AFPI developed immigration, trade and taxation policies that the administration quickly implemented when Trump returned to power. Half a dozen Trump Cabinet secretaries have ties to the organization, which was co-founded by Brooke Rollins, now agriculture secretary.

As described by AFPI staffers, the strategy will focus on creating high-paying manufacturing jobs, protecting children from the dangers of AI and preventing foreign adversaries from deploying the technology against the American people.

Chris Stewart, a Republican former congressman who chairs the initiative, described the plan as the first comprehensive effort to prioritize American workers in the race to develop AI. He acknowledged tension inside the GOP as some factions of the party lobby for deregulation while others urge the White House to focus on people whose jobs may be replaced by the technology.

“If we ignore the economic implications, that will be at our peril, and I think the president knows that as well,” Stewart said. “We’re just barely beginning to put out really good ideas and put forth policies that will help us.”

Stewart declined to share additional details about the plan, stressing that it’s in its early phases. The think tank will officially announce details of its AI agenda at an event in December, describing the plan as a “three-year initiative” in a release.

The issue of tech regulation has splintered the MAGA movement in recent weeks, a key crack in the diverse coalition that Trump has for the most part controlled during the first 10 months of his presidency. Frequently surrounded by donors from the tech industry, the president has been vocal about his desire to slash regulations to speed AI development and has defended companies that say they need foreign workers who know how to manufacture chips, batteries and other products. Those comments have alienated more-populist members of his coalition, who see the technology as a threat to American jobs and want the Trump administration to do more to protect their interests.

The divisions have emerged as politicians expect artificial intelligence to become a more prominent issue for voters, especially alongside broader concerns about affordability and employment. In a Fox News survey published last week, 58% of registered voters said they believed that AI will eliminate more jobs than it will create in the next five years. Voter anger over rising electricity bills played a key role in races that Democrats won in New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia this year, as the expansion of energy-hungry data centers that develop AI drives up demand for power.

The AI boom is central to Trump’s economic message, as investment in the technology drives the stock market gains he often touts in speeches. Many of the domestic investments he celebrates are in data center construction. But few companies have deployed the technology broadly across their operations, and AI frequently makes mistakes — contributing to fears of a bubble.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last week both said they supported states’ rights to set their own AI policies, as Trump officials work on an executive order to crack down on states with strict AI regulations. Greene, who announced her resignation from Congress on Friday night, has also criticized the White House’s policies on high-skilled immigration.

The White House’s executive order would be designed to prevent states from enacting “onerous” AI laws, according to a draft of the order viewed by The Washington Post. The order would restrict federal funding for states that develop their own AI regulations and direct the Justice Department to challenge state laws regulating the technology on the grounds that they interfere with interstate commerce. However, the order would probably face legal challenges because some groups say it is unconstitutional to supersede state laws through an executive order.

Stewart and Yusuf Mahmood, the AI policy director at the AFPI, said that they support Trump’s policies but that the White House appears to be “listening to some concerns” about preemption.

“I don’t think anyone at the White House has staked out a very intransigent position on this,” Stewart said. “I think they understand that states’ rights are important.”

The order would align the Trump White House with tech investors and large companies, which warn that a patchwork of 50 different state AI policies would stifle innovation. Two of Trump’s Silicon Valley supporters, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, this year launched a $100 million PAC to thwart candidates who support federal and state AI legislation that Andreessen and Horowitz consider burdensome for businesses. Many of the companies seeking to limit state AI laws are donors to Trump’s ballroom and inauguration funds.

Economists say there aren’t yet strong signs that AI is driving widespread layoffs across industries. An October study from the Yale Budget Lab found no “discernible disruption” to the broader labor market since the 2022 release of ChatGPT. But employees are increasingly augmenting their work with the technology, and CEOs under shareholder pressure to maintain lean workforces are more often citing AI as a factor in layoffs.

Some of the country’s largest employers, including Amazon and Microsoft, have slashed thousands of jobs this year as they say they are restructuring their workforces for the AI boom. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Recent college graduates have faced a hiring crunch caused in part by the technology.

The unemployment rate for college graduates ages 22 to 27 jumped to 5.3% in the six months ending in May, up from 4.4% for the same period a year earlier, according to a Washington Post analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. A new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found an uncertain job market for recent graduates, with a 1.6% increase in hiring for the Class of 2026 compared with the Class of 2025.

Stewart said the AFPI’s goal is to develop policies that make the economic transition created by AI “easier” for workers, but at this stage, he had few specific ideas to share about how that could be accomplished.

The White House’s approach to AI has largely been developed by staffers with deep ties to the tech industry. Venture capitalist David Sacks has served as the White House’s AI and crypto czar while actively working as a tech investor. Michael Kratsios, a former executive at Scale AI, and Sriram Krishnan, a former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, have also played key roles in developing the administration’s AI executive orders and plan.

In July, the administration released an AI plan and executive orders that aimed to remove regulatory barriers to the technology. The plan also included some provisions geared toward protecting workers, including directing the Labor Department to leverage available funding to help workers whose jobs are displaced by AI develop new skills.