Report from the Washington Post
In Brief – President Donald Trump cancelled signing a major executive order on artificial intelligence after last-minute lobbying from leading tech industry figures, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and former White House AI adviser David Sacks. The draft order proposed creating a voluntary federal review system allowing the government to determine what a covered frontier model was and direct a collection of federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, the Office of the National Cyber Director, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, to examine those AI models for up to 90 days before public release to assess dangerous capabilities, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and national-security risks. The tech industry objectors argued that even a nominally voluntary review process could evolve into a de facto licensing system requiring government approval before companies could release AI products. Trump sided with the opponents and said he feared the proposal could become a “blocker” to AI innovation, economic growth and competition with China.
Context – The second Trump Administration’s AI policy is built on several foundations, starting with AI leadership being a national imperative to compete with China, deregulation promoting the needed level of investment and innovation, and a complete rejection of “Woke AI”. But there is a cadre of conservative activists, including some in Congress, who harshly criticize AI, Big Tech and its leaders, and call for regulation. The only AI issue that unites them all is opposition to Woke AI. When Vice President Vance hectored EU officials about AI policy that is “handwringing about safety”, or the White House Director of Science and Technology Policy said that the US “totally” rejects global governance of AI, it was about “ideological, risk-focused obsessions, such as climate or equity.” Security concerns, “science fiction” risks, as well as polling showing Republicans and Democrats equally concerned with AI fears, are proving disruptive inside the White House but apparently haven’t changed the President’s perspective yet.