Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, has taken a bold step by publishing a full-page ad in The Washington Post, calling on the Trump administration to invest more in artificial intelligence (AI). The ad, which Wang also shared on social media, frames the need for increased investment as a matter of national competitiveness, stating that "America must win the AI War."

Wang, who attended President Trump's inauguration on Monday, outlined five key recommendations for the new administration to ensure the US stays ahead of China in the AI race. These recommendations include emulating tech giants by spending more on data and compute, reviewing regulations to ensure AI-related job growth, making federal agencies "AI-ready" by 2027, launching an "aggressive" plan for cheap electricity to power AI-centric data centers, and implementing AI safety measures.

Scale AI, which provides data labeling and processing services for AI projects, stands to benefit from some of these recommendations, particularly increased government spending on data. The company, valued at $13.8 billion last year, already counts the US government as a customer and is reportedly part of plans for a US defense startup consortium. Additionally, more friendly regulations and encouragement of AI-related jobs could help Scale, which relies heavily on contract workers.

Wang's call to action is motivated by the rapid progress China is making in AI development. Chinese models like DeepSeek have been gaining attention for their strong performance on industry benchmarks, and Wang notes that China is now catching up to the US after being at least a year behind. This sentiment is echoed by other AI leaders, who acknowledge the intense competition between the two nations in the AI space.

However, Wang's framing of the US-China AI competition as a "war" has raised concerns among some experts. Emmett Shear, former CEO of Twitch and briefly OpenAI's CEO in 2023, tweeted that this framing is "horrible" and could lead to catastrophic consequences if AI development is viewed as a zero-sum game. Shear emphasized that the global community should work together to develop AI responsibly, rather than pitting nations against each other.

The Trump administration's response to Wang's call to action remains to be seen. So far, President Trump's main action on AI has been to revoke his predecessor's Executive Order on AI, which provided guidance for companies to correct flaws and biases in their models. It is unclear whether the administration will take Wang's recommendations seriously and invest more in AI development.

As the US and China continue to vie for dominance in the AI space, the implications of Wang's call to action will be closely watched. Will the Trump administration heed the warning and invest more in AI, or will it continue to prioritize other areas of technological development? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain – the stakes are high, and the consequences of falling behind in AI development could be severe.