OPINION:
Given the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when discussing it, but AI is a technological mountain that we, especially those of us in positions of governance, must climb.
The truth is simple: AI is to the 21st century what electricity was to the 20th. It is a general-purpose technology that will reshape every sector of our economy and every dimension of our national power.
That reality is no longer theoretical. On the day of President Trump’s second inauguration, a Chinese artificial intelligence company called DeepSeek released a powerful AI model reportedly built using stolen American research and restricted semiconductor technology. Within days, the app surged to the top of U.S. app store rankings, harvesting Americans’ data while censoring content critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
In response to the security risks, agencies such as NASA and the U.S. Navy banned DeepSeek from federal devices. Reports indicate that the system was developed using advanced American semiconductor chips that were supposed to be off limits to Chinese firms.
This is about more than one app. It is about who leads the most consequential technology of our era.
If the United States cedes leadership in AI, then China will be positioned to set the rules of the road for the systems that power our economy, infrastructure and military. Do we want the digital backbone of the future shaped by a regime that embeds censorship and surveillance into its technology? Or do we want systems grounded in openness, innovation and American principles of freedom?
Mr. Trump understood this urgency from the start.
His AI Action Plan lays out a clear strategy: Empower American innovators, strengthen the infrastructure that fuels AI development and confront the national security risks posed by Chinese technological dominance. The policy is straightforward: America must sustain and enhance its global leadership in AI to promote prosperity, economic competitiveness and national security.
Now, Congress must do its part.
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Congress’ front line on emerging technologies, recently hosted Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, to examine the administration’s AI strategy in detail.
Mr. Kratsios outlined the progress underway and the work still ahead, including the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, an effort to build the world’s most powerful AI-enabled scientific platform to accelerate discovery and energy innovation. As he described it, this could become the largest federal scientific initiative since the Apollo program.
This forward-looking work builds on the bipartisan National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act that our committee led in 2021. Our jurisdiction spans the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories, the National Science Foundation’s AI research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s leadership on voluntary standards and model evaluations. That places us at the center of America’s AI ecosystem.
We are advancing practical legislation to expand access to federal computing resources, strengthen research and development, train the next-generation workforce and promote the consensus-based standards that have made U.S. technology the global benchmark.
President Trump recognizes that American leadership in AI is non-negotiable, and so does Congress. The path forward demands action: Unleash innovation, remove unnecessary barriers, and ensure the United States, not China, defines the future of artificial intelligence.
Speed matters. Leadership matters. Getting this right matters.
AI is not just another technological shift. It is the defining competition of our time, and America must win.
• Rep. Brian Babin represents Texas’ 36th Congressional District and serves as chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
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