With the change, the Trump administration has also backed away from a signature effort to stay ahead of China in the A.I. race. The U.S. government had been concerned that the Chinese military could use A.I. chips to coordinate attacks and develop weapons and had also wanted to preserve the U.S. lead in developing A.I. systems.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Donald Trump's administration to pursue mass government job cuts and the sweeping downsizing of numerous agencies, a decision that could lead to tens of thousands of layoffs while dramatically reshaping the federal bureaucracy.