Donald Trump said artificial intelligence could be bigger than the internet [1].
The stance signals a potential shift toward deregulation in the tech sector to accelerate infrastructure growth and maintain a competitive edge over global rivals.
Trump said he advocates for light-touch regulation of the industry [1]. He said the U.S. is far ahead of China in the development of AI [1]. This positioning is intended to justify the accelerated construction of power plants and data centers to support the computational needs of the sector [1].
While some reports suggest Trump compared the impact of AI to the internet [1], other accounts indicate he described the technology as potentially bigger than oil [2]. This discrepancy highlights the broad scale of the economic impact he attributes to the technology.
Trump said the U.S. must prioritize rapid development to ensure leadership [1]. He said there is a need for expanded energy infrastructure to fuel the AI boom [3].
The focus on infrastructure suggests a strategy that links energy production directly to technological supremacy. By reducing regulatory hurdles, the goal is to allow private companies to build the physical foundations of AI more quickly than international competitors [1].
“AI could be bigger than the internet”
This approach reflects a deregulation-heavy economic strategy that views AI not just as a software evolution, but as a physical infrastructure race. By framing AI as a geopolitical tool for dominance over China, the policy shift prioritizes speed of deployment and energy expansion over the precautionary regulatory frameworks currently being debated in other Western jurisdictions.
