Welcome to the CAVEAT Weekly Newsletter, where we break down some of the major developments and happenings occurring worldwide when discussing cybersecurity, privacy, digital surveillance, and technology policy.
At 1,750 words, this briefing is about an 8-minute read.
At a glance.
- Trump releases new artificial intelligence (AI) blueprint.
- States sue Trump administration over sensitive food stamp data.
The Trump administration moves to loosen AI rules.
The news.
Last week, the Trump administration released its latest AI blueprint, aiming to loosen AI regulations and relax AI exporting rules. The plan includes nearly ninety recommendations for reform. Notable proposals include creating a unified federal AI standard, requiring location verification for AI chips, and expanding government AI adoption.
When announcing the plan, President Trump stated:
“America is the country that started the AI race. And as President of the United States, I’m here today to declare that America is going to win it.”
Alongside this statement, Michael Kratsios, the head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, announced that both the departments of Commerce and State will partner with industry representatives. These partnerships will aim to “deliver secure full-stack AI export packages, including hardware models, software applications, and standards to America’s friends and allies around the world.”
The knowledge.
With this new plan, President Trump also signed three new executive orders aiming to bolster this blueprint. The three executive orders signed by President Trump include:
- Promoting the Export of the American AI Technology Stack.
- Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure.
- Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government.
The first order emphasized establishing the American AI Exports Program. This order promoted efforts, including:
- Exporting full-stack AI technology packages.
- Identifying specific target countries or regional blocs for export engagement.
- Defining which entities will be tasked with building, owning, and operating AI infrastructure.
- Mobilizing financing tools to support AI export packages.
The second order aims to support industrial plans that will promote domestic manufacturing efforts deemed essential for national security, economic prosperity, and scientific leadership. More specifically, this order mandated the following:
- Promoting qualifying projects to provide loans, grants, tax incentives, and offtake agreements that support domestic AI development.
- Revoking former President Biden’s Executive Order 14141, or the Advancing United States Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure.
- Streamlining the Permit Review process.
Lastly, the third order aims to address how AI models handle information about diversity. For this order, the administration seeks to prioritize the creation of unbiased AI by establishing guidelines for agencies and requirements for vendors to follow.
Another central pillar of this blueprint is a renewed push for a unified federal AI strategy, replacing the current decentralized, state-led approach. This effort follows a recently failed Congressional provision that emerged when passing the HR1, which attempted to institute a ten-year moratorium on state AI laws through federal preemption. Though that effort did not succeed, the new blueprint signals President Trump’s continued pursuit to have a centralized federal policy directing AI’s path within the US.
The impact.
This blueprint is the latest effort when executing the Trump administration’s overall AI strategy, one that deregulates and accelerates AI’s development. While the long-term impacts remain uncertain, and the implementation of this plan is still undefined, it is clear that the Trump administration is looking to make the US the world’s leader in AI.
For those involved in developing, deploying, using, or regulating AI, people should closely review this blueprint. By understanding the plan’s potential regulatory and operational impacts, people can mitigate risks and adapt to the rapidly changing AI landscape.
States sue over food stamp data.
The news.
On Monday, twenty-one states and Washington, D.C. filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block access to food stamp recipient data. The lawsuit is in response to the Department of Agriculture’s demand that states surrender sensitive personal data for food stamp recipients.
This lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco federal court and argues that the federal government’s demand violates privacy laws and the Constitution. More specifically, the lawsuit is asking the court to find the department’s demand for access unlawful and to prevent the administration from using conditional funding as a way to enforce compliance. Lastly, the lawsuit also asks the court to declare that the administration cannot disclose the requested Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) data to other agencies for any other reason than for administering the program.
The complaint argues that this collected information appeared to be a part of a coordinated effort to collect information and use it to “advance the president’s agenda on fronts that are wholly unrelated.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James stated:
“We will not allow this lifesaving program to be illegally used to hunt down immigrants and their families. This administration cannot intimidate vulnerable families and prevent them from putting food on the table.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta echoed Attorney General James, stating:
“This unprecedented demand that states turn over SNAP data violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws and further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves.”
The states involved in this lawsuit include: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The knowledge.
In May 2025, the Department of Agriculture originally stated that it was collecting this data under the authority of Executive Order 14243, or the Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos, which was signed in March 2025. The Department of Agriculture emphasized that it was collecting this data to create a database of Americans who receive nutrition benefits through SNAP in response to this executive order. For context, this order called for the following:
- For agency heads to grant full and prompt access to unclassified records and data for the purposes of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
- Ensuring agencies grant unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding, including third-party databases, for better oversight.
- Allowing the Secretary of Labor to gain access to unemployment data and payment records for fraud detection efforts.
When originally announcing the data collection effort, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins stated:
“President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds. SNAP is no exception. For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no…insight into real-time data.”
Though the lawsuit raises some notable privacy concerns, its outlook is not promising. Alongside the federal government looking to access SNAP participant data, federal immigration authorities also requested similar access to sensitive data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and requested data about Medicaid enrollees. In both of these instances, groups attempted to halt progress through lawsuits. However, federal judges declined to stop this access in either case. Given this, it is unclear how successful this latest lawsuit will be in this instance.
The impact.
This legal challenge reflects a growing concern among states regarding how the Trump administration has begun to collect program data and use it. However, given the administration’s reliance on its executive order and other instances where courts have not blocked similar data-sharing efforts, this lawsuit will face an uphill battle.
If the court allows the data handover to continue, it will likely continue contributing to the precedent for how federal authorities can collect and consolidate program data. For states, this raises key questions about local data control, program privacy, and its relationships with the federal government.
Highlighting key conversations.
In this week’s Caveat Podcast, our team breaks down two stories, both related to AI. In the first story, our team looks into the Trump administration’s AI action plan and its various recommendations, goals, and associated executive orders. Alongside this story, our team also looks into some recent polling data regarding how Americans view AI across the political spectrum on a variety of different issues.
Like what you read, and curious about the conversation? Head over to the Caveat Podcast for the full scoop and additional compelling insights. Our Caveat Podcast is a weekly show where we discuss topics related to surveillance, digital privacy, cybersecurity law, and policy. Got a question you'd like us to answer on our show? You can send your audio file to caveat@thecyberwire.com. Hope to hear from you.
Other noteworthy stories.
China proposes a new global AI cooperation organization.
What: China proposed the creation of a new international AI organization.
Why: On Saturday, China announced its goal to create a new AI organization to foster greater global AI cooperation. With this announcement, Premier Li Qiang stated:
“Overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, [and] institutional rules. We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible.”
This was announced at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
Spain’s watchdog expands probe into Apple.
What: Spain expands the scope of its Apple investigation.
Why: On Tuesday, Spain’s antitrust regulator announced that it was expanding its anti-competitive investigation into Apple. More specifically, the agency was investigating whether the company had imposed unequal commercial conditions on mobile application developers.
Originally, this probe was launched to examine whether or not Apple had required developers to follow a pricing schedule to distribute their apps through the Apple Store.
Apple responded to this expanded investigation, writing that its app store was designed to be a “safe and trusted experience for users and a great opportunity for developers in Spain and around the world.” Apple also stated that it would continue working with Spanish authorities throughout the investigation.
EU says Temu is in breach of rules.
What: The European Commission stated that Temu was breaking regulations.
Why: On Monday, the European Commission announced that the Chinese online marketplace, Temu, was breaking European Union (EU) rules by not preventing the sale of illegal products. Furthermore, the EU stated that the potential fine could be up to roughly six percent of Temu’s annual global turnover.
The EU stated:
“Evidence showed that there is a high risk for consumers in the EU to encounter illegal products on the platform. Specifically, the analysis of a mystery shopping exercise found that consumers shopping on Temu are very likely to find non-compliant products among [others], such as baby toys and small electronics. ”
If these preliminary findings are eventually confirmed, then Temu would be found in breach of the Digital Services Act.