The AI Action Plan: Concrete and Steel

AI is no longer a story about technology, it's now one of national strategy. The Trump administration's new AI Action Plan makes it crystal clear how the U.S. will remain in charge. The objective isn't competition, it's domination.

The strategy has three aspects to it:

1. Speeding up innovation

2. Developing physical infrastructure

3. Taking the lead globally

To achieve that, it slashes regulations, accelerates approvals, and invites private firms to build quickly. It tells agencies like the Department of Defense, the FDA, and the DOE to get out of the way of AI's deployment in healthcare, security, and energy. It opens up federal computing power to developers. And it calls for government-big tech partnerships.

Yet this is what most people forget: AI is not solely digital, not merely in the cloud. It occupies space. And plenty of it

We see AI as floating in the cloud, unseen. But to make AI function at the scale that the U.S. is trying to achieve, you require systems in the physical world. AI chips, cooling systems, water pipes, electrical grids, football-stadium-sized data centers.

The AI Action Plan is unequivocal on this point. Infrastructure is the foundation. The nation is not merely scaling code, it's scaling building.

One can observe this change everywhere. New structures, new roads, high-voltage substations. Rerouted utilities. Entire areas of land will be committed to keeping machines running 24/7. These are not fleeting pop-ups; they're fixed installations that will redefine local economies and human coexistence with their environment.

This is where my two areas of interest, AI and sustainable development, begin to intersect. I have faith in AI. I believe AI can help us solve massive issues like climate forecasting, disease prevention, improved transportation, and more intelligent use of resources. But personally, I believe the physical manifestation of how we build for AI is equally as important as the software itself.

We talk endlessly about energy use, and yes, that matters. But how do we make sure that the communities on whose land this infrastructure is located gain jobs, investment, and opportunity, and are not collateral damage in the frenzied rush to grow AI?

These are long-term choices. Once the infrastructure is established, it remains. It defines who has access, who is excluded, and how communities develop, or don't.

Winning the AI race is about more than just processing power. It’s about making sure we’re building a future that people actually want to live in.