President Donald Trump has signaled a radical shift in the approach of the Biden administration, announcing a new era for unbridled artificial-intelligence development in the United States. He has discarded previous efforts to balance safety and transparency with innovation.
In his first 24 hours in Washington, Trump rescinded Biden’s executive order on AI. This immediately halted the implementation of important safety and transparency requirements.
The move has been met by a mixture of cautious optimism among tech leaders and apprehension among experts worried about the lack oversight.
AI development: A “just-build” approach
Trump’s decision to rescind Biden’s AI executive order is a clear departure from his more cautious approach.
While the Biden administration tried to ensure US leadership in AI, while addressing possible risks, Trump’s Administration has adopted a “just build” strategy, focusing more on speed of development than regulation.
Some tech leaders at the World Economic Forum, Davos, praised the shift. Others raised concerns about its potential implications.
Trump’s plan – billions of dollars in funding, and a hands off approach
On Tuesday, Trump announced that a new $500 billion joint-venture led by SoftBank Group Corp. OpenAI and Oracle Corp. will fund AI infrastructure in the US.
Softbank’s Masayoshi Son and tech executives such as Sam Altman and Larry Ellison joined Trump to announce this venture. Son pledged an initial investment of “immediately” $100 billion, followed by future investments that will bring the total amount to “at least $500 billion”, including data centers and physical campus.
Son described the venture as the “beginning of a golden era,” underlining the optimism that has been created by the current policy changes within the tech community.
Ellison stated that data centers have already been constructed, citing Abilene, Texas.
Trump also stated that he would allow investors to pour money in “AI plants,” without regard for how these data centers are powered.
A continental divide over AI regulation
With these swift moves Trump’s AI approach diverges sharply with that of Europe. This sets up a clash on the best way to regulate AI and compete with China.
The EU, on the other hand, has unnerved a few leading AI companies with its stringent tech legislation focusing on privacy and security.
The Trump administration has, on the contrary, embraced prominent tech personalities such as Elon Musk, and venture capitalist David Sacks, to help shape its policy on tech and artificial intelligence.
What is the role of Elon Musk?
Musk’s influence may have a major impact on how hands-off Trump’s AI policy will be.
Musk has made significant investments in AI via his startup xAI. He has also warned repeatedly of the existential dangers if AI is not checked.
This creates an interesting dynamic where a key person who influences government policy has also warned about the potentially hazardous aspects of the technology.
Experts express concern, but tech leaders are cautiously optimistic
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Demis Hassabis said, “It appears clear that the new government is going to encourage tech and tech growth.” This optimism was evident from tech leaders.
He added that.
The administration gets advice from people who are at the cutting edge of technology.
Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI, told Bloomberg News the Trump administration had shown “a real desire to lean in”, and “be on the economic front foot”, when it comes to technology and AI.
Alphabet Inc.’s Ruth Porat said Trump wants to “clear some of the obstacles to investing” in data centers required for AI. This further highlights the level of cooperation that has developed.
Experts like Frank Pasquale a law professor from Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School are concerned about the unintended effects of winning the “AI War.”
Pasquale warns Trump that by removing guardrails he is “clearing a path for greater investment in artificial intelligence, where there is less risk of regulation.” But “there were a lot of reasons to have guardrails,” highlighting his concerns that companies could build unsafe products without oversight.
The threat of competition with China
OpenAI, along with other companies, has urged governments in recent months to facilitate massive investment in data centers and renewable energy sources. OpenAI has specifically called for the construction massive 5 gigawatt-sized data centers.
The Biden administration signed a directive last week that required federal agencies to lease land for AI data centres, while also promoting the use of clean energy.
On Tuesday, Trump was asked if he would rescind the order. He replied, “no, that’s not something I would do.” This sounds like something I would want.”
Bloomberg News reported that Trump will likely relax clean energy requirements and leave it to the tech companies to decide if they want to use fossil fuels for their data centers. Majkut is the director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ energy security and climate program.
Climate and safety are not as important to the Trump administration and many in the AI industry. They are more concerned about China outperforming them.
Alphabet’s Porat stated that it is not “a foregone decision” that the US would maintain its lead in AI over China. OpenAI’s Friar said that China “absolutely invests in this area” as they understand the critical role AI plays in their economy and in their security.
According to the South China Morning Post, DeepSeek, an Chinese startup, has recently unveiled a new AI model they claim rivals OpenAI’s technology. Its founder also recently attended a meeting with Premier Li Qiang.
In an open letter, Scale AI’s founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, wrote to Trump that he was confident of winning the “AI War”. He added, “You have the team in place to meet this challenge and maintain our lead over adversaries.”
This post Why Donald Trump’s AI plan is more complicated than it appears appeared first on ICD
This site is for entertainment only. Click here to read more
