Trump's AI team fractures over strategy against G20 backdrop

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Trump administration officials came to this week's G20 innovation summit to project a united front on U.S.

AI leadership.

But tensions between the Commerce Department and the White House's tech policy shop are playing out behind the scenes.

Why it matters: The Trump administration wants the world to follow its lead on AI policy, even as it grapples with divisions at home.

Driving the news: The G20 Innovation Ministerial on Tuesday and Wednesday features some of the tech industry's heaviest hitters and officials from the world's most powerful countries.

Officials and executives pitched the U.S. as a model for other countries on AI, contrasting its lighter regulatory approach with the European Union's heavier hand.

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios credited U.S.

AI progress to "flexible policy frameworks" that encourage private investment and provide regulatory clarity.

The intrigue: The Commerce Department and OSTP are jockeying for influence over the administration's AI policy agenda.

Key regulatory decisions remain unsettled as the U.S. tries to present a clear message abroad.

"This is fake news," a White House spokesperson told Axios.

"The President's team is working closely together to showcase American leadership on the world stage as this year's G20 hosts." "Commerce and OSTP are jointly leading a productive and successful G20 Innovation Summit." Behind the scenes: The summit's first day highlighted the divide between OSTP and Commerce, including how they view each other and an apparent messaging miscue over data centers.

Commerce holds many of the administration's most important AI policy levers, including the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Center for AI Standards and Innovation.

A source familiar with the administration's thinking described OSTP as a shop of "thinkers" without the regulatory authorities wielded by Commerce.