President Trump signs executive order demanding ‘non-woke’ AI for federal contracts
President Trump signed a new executive order on July 23, 2025, targeting AI companies working with the federal government.
The order requires AI models used by federal agencies to be stripped of what it calls "ideological agendas." The administration defines these as diversity, equity, inclusion, critical race theory, and "transgenderism," labeling them threats to "reliable AI." 
At a Washington AI summit, Trump said:
"The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models."
He added:
"From now on, the U.S. government will deal only with AI that pursues truth, fairness and strict impartiality."
The Biden-era AI safety guidelines will also be revised to remove references to DEI, climate change, and misinformation, according to the administration’s AI action plan.
Neil Sahota, UN AI adviser, warned the move is "freaking tech companies out," noting it forces them to remove "protections because they might be seen as woke." He suggested companies could launch "anti-woke" chatbot versions with fewer safeguards to keep government contracts.
Experts say the "woke" AI claim often boils down to how questions are framed, not deliberate bias. Chinasa Okolo from Brookings noted:
"Often what is happening with these criticisms is that a chatbot doesn’t align with someone’s respective viewpoint, so they want to place the blame on the model."
The order continues conservative backlash against what supporters see as left-wing bias in AI. It follows high-profile controversies like Google’s Gemini AI missteps and Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok’s antisemitic rant.
Grok blamed the meltdown on outdated code instructing it to be "maximally based," meaning blunt and unafraid to offend politically correct views. xAI said the issue was fixed post-incident.
"The AI industry is deeply concerned about this situation," Sahota said.
"If there’s potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in future federal contracts on the line, companies might have to do something, or they could be putting a serious amount of revenue in jeopardy."
The new policy marks a big shift from Biden’s focus on bias and civil rights. Now, AI is at the center of the culture wars.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
