Evidence from 2023–2025 shows the U.S. government and private sector have in fact accelerated AI development and deployment, with no nationwide moratorium or sustained slowdown, even as leaders publicly acknowledge major risks.

On the private side, the U.S. has decisively dominated global AI investment: from 2013–2023 U.S. private-sector AI spending was more than three times that of any other country. (axios.com) In 2024 alone, private AI investment in the U.S. reached a record ~$109 billion, far exceeding all other countries and driven heavily by generative AI infrastructure and startups. (humansareobsolete.com) By 2025, AI-related spending by major tech companies was so large that it accounted for a substantial share of U.S. GDP growth, with AI investments projected at hundreds of billions of dollars per year and described as making the U.S. economy “hooked on AI spending.” (wsj.com) This is consistent with “breakneck speed” investment rather than caution or pause.

On the public side, federal policy has focused on adding safeguards while explicitly encouraging rapid AI development for productivity and competitiveness, not halting it. Biden’s October 2023 Executive Order 14110 frames AI as having potential to make society “more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure,” and sets a national approach to govern AI risks while emphasizing U.S. global competitiveness—there is no moratorium language. (bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov) The Commerce Department’s one‑year review of the order in late 2024 describes the administration’s mandate as to “pull every lever to keep pace with rapid advancements in AI” and to “continue charging ahead” to spur safe development and deployment. (commerce.gov) Follow‑on actions in 2024 explicitly aim to “deepen the U.S. lead in AI innovation,” including launching the National AI Research Resource pilot to give dozens of research teams significant compute and resources. (bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov)

In 2025, the subsequent Trump administration doubled down on acceleration: it rescinded Biden’s AI safety executive order and launched the large‑scale "Genesis Mission" to exploit federal data and supercomputing for AI foundation models, explicitly framed as an effort to secure U.S. dominance in AI and boost economic growth. (en.wikipedia.org) This shift further underscores that, despite ongoing concerns about AI risks, national policy and market behavior have continued to prioritize rapid AI advancement and productivity gains, without any broad, sustained pause.

Given this trajectory—rapid and growing AI investment; federal policy focused on governance and competitiveness rather than moratoria; and an explicit push under both administrations to harness AI for productivity and economic growth—the prediction that the U.S. would "pursue AI at breakneck speed" with no real slowdown or moratorium, despite acknowledged risks and in pursuit of productivity gains, has been borne out by events so far.