The National Design Studio (NDS) is an office within the White House Office of the Executive Office of the President, established by President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14338, "Improving Our Nation Through Better Design," signed August 21, 2025. The order also created the position of Chief Design Officer within the NDS, held by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who is described as the first U.S. Chief Design Officer (Sources: whitehouse.gov; foxnews.com).
Mandate
Executive Order 14338 announced "America by Design," a national initiative to improve "the visual presentation and usability of Federal services provided to the public in both digital and physical spaces." The NDS is led by an Administrator reporting to the Office of the White House Chief of Staff, and the order established within it a temporary organization under 5 U.S.C. 3161 that terminates three years from the date of the order. Heads of agencies were directed to consult the Chief Design Officer and produce initial results by July 4, 2026, prioritizing websites and physical sites with a major impact on everyday life; the Administrator of General Services was directed to update the United States Web Design System in consultation with the Chief Design Officer, and agencies to ensure compliance with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (Public Law 115-336). The Chief Design Officer is to recruit designers from the private sector, with agencies using hiring authorities including the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (Source: whitehouse.gov). The order does not mention artificial intelligence.
America.gov
The NDS's America.gov website is to be launched by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance at an all-day White House event at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington on September 29, 2026, plans for which became public on September 25. A White House official described it as "a new front door for the federal government that will provide a one-stop shop for Americans looking for information and resources from the federal government that are currently spread over a maze of various agency websites." Fox News Digital, which reported the launch first, calls America.gov a new AI tool; the quoted official and Gebbia statements describe its purpose but not how it uses AI. Gebbia described the work as "the golden age of the citizen experience" and the problem it addresses as "How do you make it easy to just access government?" (Source: foxnews.com). Invitation materials for the event, obtained by CBS News, tell attendees they will "be among the first to experience an unprecedented innovation from the White House — one that will forever change how your government recognizes you, respects your time, and serves you" (Source: cbsnews.com).
The event agenda lists a morning address by Trump and afternoon panels on artificial intelligence, energy, space and other topics; Fox News Digital lists panels on artificial intelligence, energy dominance, health, space and agriculture. Named special guests and attendees include Elon Musk, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown, Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar, Blue Origin chief executive Dave Limp, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz and former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The invitation states that a dinner and afterparty, "sponsored exclusively" by a group called Horizon Events, are "not official White House functions and are not paid for with government funds." Trump is expected to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson and technology chief executives the same day (Sources: cbsnews.com; foxnews.com).
Open questions
- Which AI systems or vendors, if any, power America.gov, and whether it answers queries generatively or routes users to agency content, is not stated in the available reporting.