The Commerce Department on Tuesday launched its artificial intelligence (AI) export program, which aims for global purchase and adoption of the full American AI stack.
The export program falls under the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, which calls on the departments of Commerce and State to partner with industry to provide “secure, full-stack AI export packages” to American allies.
The stack includes “hardware, models, software, applications, and standards,” according to the White House.
Those exports are critical, as China and the United States are locked in a race toward AI dominance, with experts warning that whoever gets there first could set the tone for the technology’s future globally.
Under the program announced Tuesday, Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) will select industry-led export packages for promotion around the world.
To kick off that process, ITA is asking for public comment from U.S. and global technology companies on a request for information (RFI) which will be used to shape the program and understand industry needs.
The RFI seeks input on the definition of the tech stack, target markets, business models, and needed federal support. It also invites feedback on consortium formation, foreign participation, and which countries should be prioritized for exports.
The RFI additionally asks how to align with national security and export-control rules, evaluate proposals for competitiveness, and bolster U.S. leadership abroad.
Proposals for the full-stack AI technology packages will be evaluated by the secretaries of state, defense, energy, and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
“Once approved, full-stack AI packages will be supported through the interagency Economic Diplomacy Action Group for qualified export opportunities,” said ITA in its announcement.
To support the export program, ITA launched a new website, AIexports.gov, and will create an “integrated American AI export team.”
“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,” said ITA . “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.”
OSTP Director Michael Kratsios said earlier this fall that as the AI Export Program grows, that could mean building a trusted network of non-American technology companies within target customer countries that would build a “modular” export program.
“We’re in a moment now where – unlike that time – we do actually have competitive technology,” Kratsios had said. “We have the best chips, we have the best models, we have the best applications. And it’s incumbent on the U.S. government to help promote these technologies broadly, so that when the [People’s Republic of China] has the capacity to actually have full chips themselves, [U.S. chips are] already there and already around the world.”