AI and Trump: 2020 - 2025 4 views

This paper explors the co-shaping relationship between the politcal evolution of Donald Trump and the rapid ascent of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Following a period of "decoupling" from Silicon Valley, characterized by social media bans and the creation of Truth Social, Trump’s 2024 campaign and subsequent second inauguration marked a strategic realignment with Big Tech. This research utilizes Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to analyze how human actors (politicians, CEOs) and non-human actors (LLMs, regulatory orders) influenced one another within a volatile sociotechnical landscape. The study finds that while the Biden administration prioritized "safety-first" AI governance, the Trump administration’s 2025 "Removing Barriers" executive order pivoted toward a "deregulation-first" framework to ensure American technological dominance. This shift catalyzed a massive surge in corporate Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and an AI arms race, effectively trading ethical oversight for rapid innovation and economic growth. However, this alliance has also exacerbated a "crisis of authenticity," where the proliferation of hyper-realistic, AI-generated political content threatens the public’s ability to distinguish fact from fabrication. Ultimately, the paper concludes that the intersection of Trump’s populist communication style and unchecked AI development has redefined corporate autonomy and transformed the American public into a contested commodity in the pursuit of political and financial power.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

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2026-05-09