US Action Plan, Netflix's AI Jump, & More

TLDR;

Welcome back! This week, the release of the US’s great AI action plan, a concerning issue with reasoning models, and a wide range of market and product news, including Netflix’s Generative AI bet, China’s GPU black market, and the new fastest-growing AI startup, which might hold more questions than answers

REGULATION

The US Gov Unleashes America’s AI Action Plan

Finally, the US Government has revealed its action plan, and the reception has been mainly positive.

Three strategic pillars frame the plan’s vision for US AI leadership: Accelerate AI Innovation, Build American AI Infrastructure, and Lead in International AI Diplomacy and Security.

Accelerate AI Innovation by cutting regulatory red tape, promoting open-source and open-weight models, establishing domain-specific sandboxes and Centers of Excellence, boosting AI literacy and worker retraining, and investing in AI-enabled science, interpretability, and evaluation ecosystems.

Build American AI Infrastructure, by facilitating permits for data centers, chip factories, and energy projects. They also want to modernize the power grid, revitalize domestic semiconductor manufacturing, create high-security AI data centers (whatever that means), and train the technical workforce while fortifying cybersecurity.

Lead in International AI Diplomacy and Security by exporting the full American AI stack to allies, countering authoritarian influence in global AI standards bodies, tightening export controls on advanced compute and semiconductor technologies, and aligning protection measures with partners while rigorously evaluating frontier models for national-security risks.

From a more political perspective, they aim to ensure that AI systems respect free speech and American values, remain ideologically neutral (no way), protect intellectual property, and guard against misuse (especially in defense, law enforcement, and biosecurity contexts).

Of course, the mission of all is to guarantee the US’s lead in AI.

TheWhiteBox’s takeaway:

A lot of buzz words, that’s for sure. But the plan can be summarized in just a few things:

less regulation, especially when it comes to allowing the deployment of more energy and data centers,

Higher intended support for Academia and research institutes,

and openly supporting open-source.

In a nutshell, all good decisions, at least on paper. But as the Spanish saying goes, ‘paper withstands anything,’ meaning you can just say things, but you must also ‘walk the talk.’

Overall, the plan appears well-intentioned and has several strong points, particularly regarding open-source and open-weight models, which have both been significantly reduced in the US in terms of AI’s frontier.

As I was saying, my main concern is whether this is just empty words, because the reality in the US couldn’t be further from what this plan describes. Out of all this, the only tangible thing we have as of right now is the NAIRR Pilot, which aims to connect researchers to data and compute. Everything else is just words and unsustained good intentions.

And if Spanish politicians have taught me anything about politics, it is that their word can’t be trusted. Sadly, the reality on the ground is grim, so the US government had better be willing to back its words.

Another positive is the acknowledgement that power buildouts…

Enjoyed the introduction? Subscribe or sign in to continue with this edition.