Commerce Department Begins Rolling Out AI Export Program

The American AI Exports Program is one piece of President Trump’s AI Action Plan released in July. A key component of the plan is an effort to entrench U.S. technology in as many AI systems and programs as possible around the world. An executive order included with the plan set an October 21 deadline for the Commerce Department to set up the export program.

“To provide a global presence for the Program, the International Trade Administration will leverage its expertise in export promotion through its commercial service officers across the United States and the globe,” the press release said. “The Department of Commerce will also partner with the Department of State to leverage its foreign service officers and ambassadors in support of this effort around the world.”

“The Business Software Alliance commends the White House for soliciting input from stakeholders, including industry as the administration builds out the American AI Exports Program,” BSA Senior Vice President for Global Policy Aaron Cooper said. “BSA will be focused on suggestions to help further AI adoption in markets worldwide and ensure economies are well-served by trusted technologies.”

Not all intended beneficiaries of the program were thrilled with the announcement, however. The rollout has been “extremely underwhelming” one industry source told Axios.

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Joseph Hoefer, AI lead at Monument Advocacy, which represents technology companies, said the program left too much for the industry to figure out on its own.

Read more: AI Regulation Pushes New Demands Into Tech Contracting

“Firms want to engage and help shape it, but they need more clarity,” he told Axios. “The appetite is there, the framework just needs to catch up to the ambition.”

Rather than details of a fully developed program, what the Commerce Department released last week was a Request For Information (RIF) seeking “proposals that the Department will issue…  including comments relating to the AI technology stack, consortia membership and formation, foreign markets, proposals’ business and operational models, federal support for consortia, national security regulations, and proposal evaluation. The Department welcomes comment on all aspects of the Program from all interested parties.”

Some industry groups responded more favorably toward the announcement. “The Business Software Alliance commends the White House for soliciting input from stakeholders, including industry as the administration builds out the American AI Exports Program,” BSA Senior Vice President for Global Policy Aaron Cooper said, per NextGov. “BSA will be focused on suggestions to help further AI adoption in markets worldwide and ensure economies are well-served by trusted technologies.”

Rachel Hovde, the policy director at Americans for Responsible Innovation, said her organization is “glad that the RFI specifically asks for input on what countries are most critical to prioritize for U.S. AI exports, and hope that this decision can be made based on both economic and strategic factors.”

Comments are due 30 days after the RFI if officially published in the Federal Register. The Register is published daily by the National Archives and Records Administration, but is currently operating with limited capacity due to the government shutdown, which could slow the process of preparing notices for publication, according to the agency’s website.