White House AI czar David Sacks dismissed concerns about the potential smuggling of advanced American AI chips to unauthorized entities, emphasizing that the physical nature of the technology makes illicit transfers unlikely.
"We talk about these chips like they could be smuggled in the back of a briefcase. That's not what they look like. These are server racks that are eight feet tall and weigh two tons," Sacks said at the AWS summit in Washington on Tuesday. "They don't walk out doors. It's very easy to basically verify that they're where they're supposed to be."
The comments signal a significant shift in the administration's approach to AI export policy, prioritizing market expansion over the security-focused restrictions implemented by the Biden administration. In May, the Trump administration rescinded Biden's controversial "AI diffusion rule," which had divided the world into three tiers with varying levels of access to advanced AI chips. That rule would have capped exports to approximately 120 countries while blocking shipments entirely to China, Russia, and other nations of concern.
"We rescinded that Biden diffusion rule, which made diffusion a bad word. Diffusion of our technology should be a good word," Sacks explained. He warned that overly restrictive policies could push countries toward Chinese alternatives, stating, "What play are we giving them? We're basically going to push them into the arms of China."
Sacks also emphasized the urgency of maintaining America's competitive edge, claiming that China's AI capabilities are advancing rapidly. "China is not years and years behind us in AI. Maybe they're three to six months," he said, though the White House later clarified he was referring specifically to China's AI models, not chip technology.
The Trump administration has already taken steps to implement its more open approach to AI exports, announcing a partnership with the United Arab Emirates last month to build what it calls the largest artificial intelligence campus outside the United States. This follows the administration's broader strategy of using bilateral agreements rather than global restrictions to manage AI technology transfers while maintaining export controls specifically targeting adversaries like China.