U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order related to AI to "make America the world capital in artificial intelligence," his aide told reporters in the White House's Oval Office.

One further force promoting AI innovation could be defence spending. America puts only a tiny fraction of its $850bn defence budget into AI. Silicon Valley executives hope that the Trump administration will allow more participation by startups building AI weapons and systems in the competition for defence contracts.

Elon Musk, the close Trump adviser who has his own AI company and was notably not at the press conference, mocked the effort relentlessly online. “They don’t actually have the money,” he posted on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday dismissed criticism from close ally Elon Musk about a $500 billion artificial intelligence project that Trump announced with great fanfare at the White House earlier this week.

Billionaire Elon Musk gave a stiff arm salute during the Trump inauguration rally that has gone viral; The 'Nazi' salute explained.