Executive Order 13859, "Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," was signed by President Donald J. Trump on February 11, 2019, during his first term, and published in the Federal Register at 84 FR 3967 on February 14, 2019. It established the American AI Initiative and was the first document setting out the Trump administration's AI policy, coordinated through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence. The order prioritized American leadership, innovation, workforce development, and protection against strategic competitors (Source: federalregister.gov).
Guiding principles
The order set out five guiding principles:
- Drive breakthroughs across government, industry, and academia.
- Develop technical standards and reduce barriers to deployment.
- Train current and future workers with AI skills.
- Foster public trust and protect civil liberties, privacy, and American values.
- Promote an international environment supporting American AI while protecting against competitors.
Key provisions
The order directed federal agencies to treat AI as a budget priority for research and development. It tasked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with improving the availability of federal data for AI R&D and with issuing regulatory guidance to reduce barriers to deployment while protecting civil liberties. It directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a plan for AI technical standards, work that eventually produced NIST AI RMF 1.0. It made AI a priority in federal education and fellowship programs for workforce development, and it called for a classified action plan, coordinated by the National Security Agency, to protect the US AI advantage.
Position in federal AI policy
EO 13859 was the first in a series of executive actions on AI. The 2019 order's pro-innovation principles and the American AI Initiative were followed by Biden's EO 14110 (2023), a safety and rights framework later rescinded; Trump's EO 14179 (January 2025), "Removing Barriers to AI Leadership"; EO 14365 (December 2025), addressing federal preemption of state laws; and America's AI Action Plan (July 2025), a three-pillar strategy.
The 2019 order's directive to NIST on AI standards produced the AI RMF 1.0. The 2025 AI Action Plan directs NIST to revise that same framework.
The American AI Initiative organized federal activity around five areas — investment in AI research and development, unleashing federal data and computing resources, setting technical standards, building an AI-ready workforce, and an international engagement strategy — but created no new appropriations or statutory authority, relying instead on directing existing agency resources and reporting. NIST's resulting plan, "A Plan for Federal Engagement in Developing Technical Standards and Related Tools," was published in August 2019 and set the trajectory that led to the AI Risk Management Framework. Commentators at the time noted that the order's effect depended on agency follow-through and budget prioritization rather than binding requirements (Source: federalregister.gov).
Relationships
- supersedes: none (first in the federal AI executive-order sequence)
- related: Executive Order 14110 (RESCINDED), Executive Order 14179 — Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, America's AI Action Plan, NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Compute Governance