Trump’s second inauguration: live updates and how to watch

In his executive actions on day one of his presidency, Donald Trump rescinded an executive order Joe Biden signed in 2023 to establish safety guidelines for generative AI.

The Biden-era order required developers of large AI models like OpenAI’s GPT lineup to share the results of safety tests with the US government. It also directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards for safety testing, and it tasked other federal agencies with assessing any potential chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure risks AI might pose.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order signaling his intention to eliminate the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies, which he has falsely labeled a “mandate.” Trump also signed an order signaling his intent to weaken tailpipe emission standards, which would be a major blow to the environment.

The orders were among a barrage of executive actions taken by Trump in the immediate aftermath of his inauguration on Monday, as he set to work undoing some of the accomplishments of the Biden administration. He also declared a “national energy emergency” in a move meant to weaken environmental standards and allow corporations to pollute more freely.

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order telling the Department of Justice to not enforce a rule that demands TikTok spin off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban.

The order, issued on Trump’s first day in office, is meant to effectively extend the deadline established by the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act for ByteDance to sell its stake by undercutting penalties on American companies like Apple and Google working with TikTok. It directs the attorney general “not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way.” The AG is supposed to “issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred.”

Donald Trump has once again taken the US out of the landmark Paris climate agreement, abandoning the global effort to limit climate change. Trump signed an executive order today to exit.

The Paris accord was adopted in 2015, committing nearly 200 countries including the US to working together to stop global average temperatures from rising much higher than they have already. 2024 was the hottest year on record, beating the previous record set in 2023.

Brendan Carr is now formally the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, giving him the power to set the agency’s agenda and usher through a host of regulations with major implications for the tech and media industries as soon as he has a Republican majority.

In a statement, Carr named a few areas of focus: “issues ranging from tech and media regulation to unleashing new opportunities for jobs and growth through agency actions on spectrum, infrastructure, and the space economy.”

Vivek Ramaswamy has stepped down from co-leading President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to The Associated Press. The official line as to why Ramaswamy is moving on is that he plans to run for elected office — he reportedly intends to run for Ohio governor.

“Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” spokesperson Anna Kelly says in the statement to AP. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on the structure that we announced today. We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last 2 months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”

Donald Trump said today he’ll declare a “national energy emergency,” a move meant to speed the development of fossil fuel infrastructure. He signed an executive order doing so this evening.

The actions taken on his first day in office mark the start of President Trump’s attempts to boost oil and gas and retreat from global climate goals. He campaigned on promises to “drill, baby, drill” and undo Biden-era policies to reduce pollution and stop climate change.

Donald Trump has been officially sworn in as the 47th president of the US. Although we’ve already experienced a Trump presidency beginning in 2016, this term could look far different than the first one, particularly when it comes to tech regulation.

The heads of major tech companies have apparently come to learn how to deal with Trump, following an era of techlash that invited fury against them from both sides. The executives — who mostly stayed at arm’s distance during the beginning of Trump’s first term — have been quick to get into Trump’s good graces, be it with trips to Mar-a-Lago, attendance at the inauguration, changes to their company policies, or notices to millions of users thanking Trump for his (predicted) role in getting their popular social media app back online.

President Donald Trump is being sworn in today, and we are about to find out what happens when the government is actually as corrupt as our most brain-rotted conspiracy theorists imagine.

“Trump Inauguration, Awash in Cash, Runs Out of Perks for Big Donors,” The New York Times reported, somewhat inaccurately. Sure, the Trump people ran out of VIP tickets, but that’s not what the donors were buying. This is pure, obvious corruption — the kind that used to trigger shame, back when we were a populace that could still experience that emotion.

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and even TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew are among the powerful tech leaders lined up to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, but Nvidia’s CEO won’t be joining them.

Reuters reports that when asked about his attendance, Jensen Huang said he would instead be celebrating the Lunar New Year “on the road” with employees and their families.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) are putting pressure on big tech firms to explain their motives for donating to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. In letters to Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber, the lawmakers express concerns about the companies making contributions to “avoid scrutiny, limit regulation, and buy favor.”

Over the past several weeks, Google, Microsoft, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman all donated $1 million apiece to Trump’s inauguration, while Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, each contributed $1 million. Many of these tech execs have already met with Trump, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is even hosting an inauguration party for the incoming president, according to The New York Times.