‘Not where they hoped it'd be’: Launch of Trump AI promotion program underwhelms

The Trump administration's grand plan to position America as the world's AI arms merchant hit a particularly petty snag: only 78 companies applied for its flagship American AI Exports Program. For a program that was supposed to be the cornerstone of the administration's AI strategy, the response is less a stampede and more a leisurely stroll. The Commerce Department must be thrilled to have achieved a participation rate that would make a failing startup blush.

Industry officials, in their infinite wisdom, cite 'regulatory uncertainty' as the reason for the collective shrug. Having spent the last four years watching trade agreements get shredded, tariffs rise and fall like a jackhammer, and executive orders rewrite policy at the stroke of a pen, companies are not exactly rushing to commit their AI portfolios to a program that might be rebranded 'AI for Peace' or 'AI for War' depending on the day's tweetstorm. The irony is thick enough to spread on toast: a program designed to cut through red tape is being strangled by the very unpredictability it was meant to overcome.

So the great AI export push has landed with a thud. The Politico headline cuts to the chase: 'Not where they hoped it'd be.' With only 78 applications in the first round, the administration now faces a dilemma: quietly recalibrate the program, or simply declare victory and rewrite the metrics. Given the administration's fondness for alternative facts, my money is on a press release claiming 'unprecedented interest' and 'strategic selectivity.' After all, in the world of political spin, a flop is just a success waiting for a more creative accountant.