AI Policy Board Rewards Trump’s Big Tech Loyalists

President Donald Trump’s AI policy apparatus now gives formal advisory power to political and industry allies tied to the administration’s deregulatory technology agenda. The clearest institutional move came on January 23, 2025, when the White House created a new President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, or PCAST, and made the Special Advisor for AI & Crypto a statutory co-chair alongside the White House science adviser, according to the executive order and White House fact sheet. That structure matters because it places AI policy influence inside a board designed to shape federal science and technology priorities across the economy, national security, and innovation policy.

January 23, 2025 Order Put AI Power Inside a 24-Seat Board

The White House order establishing PCAST states that the council may include “not more than 24 members,” with the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and the Special Advisor for AI & Crypto serving as members and co-chairs. The same order says the remaining non-federal members are appointed by the president from outside government and are expected to bring perspectives from science, technology, education, and innovation. That makes PCAST more than a ceremonial panel. It is the formal advisory body that can feed recommendations directly into presidential decision-making on technology policy.

In practice, that means AI policy is not being shaped only through agency rulemaking or congressional proposals. It is also being filtered through a White House advisory structure built to blend political priorities with outside-sector influence. The White House’s own description of OSTP says the office director co-chairs PCAST and uses it to advise on critical and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. Michael Kratsios was confirmed as OSTP director in March 2025, while the White House order separately gives the Special Advisor for AI & Crypto a co-chair role. That embeds AI and crypto policy in the same top-level advisory channel.

Why David Sacks’ Co-Chair Role Carries More Weight Than a Title

The most consequential named AI figure in Trump’s structure is David Sacks. Publicly available White House materials and widely cited biographical records identify Sacks as Trump’s Special Advisor for AI & Crypto, a role announced in December 2024. Under the January 2025 PCAST order, that office is not peripheral. It is written into the board’s leadership. The order says the Special Advisor for AI & Crypto serves as a co-chair, not merely as an attendee or observer.

That distinction is important because co-chairs help set agendas, frame recommendations, and influence which outside voices receive institutional access. The White House has also used AI policy messaging to emphasize deregulation, export promotion, infrastructure buildout, and resistance to what it calls burdensome requirements. In a February 25, 2025 White House notice inviting public comment on the AI Action Plan, the administration said the plan would sustain U.S. AI dominance and prevent unnecessarily burdensome requirements from hindering private-sector innovation. By April 24, 2025, the White House said it had received more than 10,000 public comments on that plan.

That timeline shows a pattern: first, build the advisory architecture; second, solicit public input; third, move toward a federal AI plan aligned with the administration’s pro-industry framing. Critics may characterize that as rewarding loyalists, but the verifiable reporting point is narrower and stronger: Trump’s AI governance design gives formal leverage to a political appointee whose portfolio explicitly combines AI and crypto and whose role sits at the top of the White House science advisory board.

March 2026 Data-Center Push Shows Which Companies Hold Access

The administration’s March 2026 AI infrastructure push offers a second measurable signal about who is inside the tent. A White House proclamation dated March 4, 2026 says seven leading technology companies accepted the administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a commitment tied to covering increased electricity production costs associated with AI data centers. A White House article published March 5, 2026 describes the pledge as a response to the rapid growth of AI data centers and says it was first announced in Trump’s State of the Union address.

Reuters footage metadata from the March 4 White House roundtable identifies senior figures present from major technology firms, including Meta executive Dina Powell, Google president Ruth Porat, and SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. That does not prove board membership by itself, but it does document which companies had direct White House access during a major AI policy and infrastructure event. In parallel, a March 4, 2026 letter from TechNet urged Trump to maintain a policy environment that encourages AI innovation and global competitiveness.

What 10,000 Public Comments and 7 Company Signatories Suggest

The administration’s AI policy process combines broad public consultation with concentrated executive access. More than 10,000 comments on the AI Action Plan indicate substantial outside interest, but the March 2026 pledge shows that a smaller circle of major firms is participating directly in implementation-oriented events around power, infrastructure, and AI expansion. That split is common in Washington, yet it matters more in AI because compute, energy, and cloud scale are concentrated in a handful of companies.

Historically, White House technology boards have mixed academic, research, and industry voices. Trump’s 2025 PCAST order preserves that formal diversity language, saying non-federal members should bring varied perspectives. Still, the administration’s public AI messaging has consistently favored speed, competitiveness, and lighter regulation. By comparison with the Biden-era AI Safety Institute Consortium launched by the Commerce Department in February 2024, the Trump framework places more visible emphasis on industrial buildout and less on safety governance branding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The verified story is less about a slogan than about institutional design. Trump’s January 2025 order creates a White House science and technology board with up to 24 seats, places the Special Advisor for AI & Crypto in a co-chair role, and leaves the remaining outside appointments in presidential hands. The administration then pairs that structure with a pro-innovation AI Action Plan process and a March 2026 infrastructure pledge signed by seven technology companies. Taken together, those moves show how AI policy influence is being organized: through formal White House advisory power, direct industry access, and a policy framework that favors rapid buildout over heavier federal constraints.