(tnnd) – The White House has announced an action plan to help America win the race for artificial intelligence innovation.
President Donald Trump gave a speech Wednesday, signing three executive orders. One is “awakening” AI, one to quickly track data center construction, and the other to promote exports of American AI technology.
Trump called AI “one of the most important technological revolutions in world history.”
And he said America must remain an AI leader.
The president told crowds at the AI summit that he is not a fan of the name “artificial intelligence.”
“I don’t like the name ‘artificial’. Because it is not artificial. That’s a genius. It’s a pure genius,” Trump said. “And it could change the realm of human effort and human knowledge of all sorts from medicine to manufacturing, war, defense, national defense. Whether we like it or not, we are suddenly involved in a fast-paced competition to build and define this groundbreaking technology that determines a lot about the future of civilization itself.”
Daniel Schiff, policy scientist and co-director at Purdue University’s Governance and Responsible AI Lab, called the White House AI Action Plan a Mixed Bag.
“There are some pillars that are in the right direction but not completely thought of or even backfire,” he said.
Schiff said that American leadership in AI is certainly good.
And it’s generally good to have AI infrastructure such as data centers in the US soil.
But he worries that Trump’s desire to cut red tape will cut the corners of environmental protection.
“I think you can be aware that where you place your data center, where you place your packaging plants, how much energy is used, the impact on local energy costs, the impact on water and agriculture, and many other things take time,” Schiff said.
Danny Weiss, Chief Advocacy Officer at Common Sense Media, said Trump appears to have the AI industry write its own rules.
Weiss highlighted the participation of David Sacks, a tech investor named Trump’s AI and cryptocurrency Czar.
“At a high level, the action plan and executive order are exactly what the AI industry is looking for. It’s like the full weight and support of the federal government in place of what the AI industry wants,” Weiss said.
Common Sense Media fought against Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” provision, which would have stopped the nation from enforcing AI laws and regulations for a decade in the spirit of promoting innovation.
Common Sense Media is an organization advocating online protection for children and teens, and was concerned that a state-level AI law ban would make children vulnerable.
Ultimately, the provisions were stripped of the massive bill.
But Trump expressed his opposition to the state’s AI law on Wednesday.
“Three or four states can’t hold you back. You can’t have a state with a high standard that will hold you high,” Trump said.
Instead, Trump said AI companies need a single federal standard that they can follow.
The White House Action Plan also said federal funding should be withheld from the state with burdensome AI regulations.
Weiss said the threat of federal dollars being withheld is vague and he has yet to see full effect.
But he said, “We remain vigilant about potential erosion of the rights of the state and will remain vigilant about it.”
Weiss previously said state laws could range from the required disclosure of AI-generated content to laws that attempt to stop AI from creating child sexual abuse materials.
Nearly every state has introduced AI laws this year, but 28 states have adopted or enacted more than 75 new measures, according to the National Assembly.
AI expert Anton Dahbura said there are plenty of AI applications that need to be addressed with safety guardrails right away.
“I am grateful for the state’s regulatory patchwork until the federal government undergoes oceanic changes in the way the federal government thinks about AI and its impact, the positive and negative impacts for all people,” said Dahbura, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy.
Dahbura said many people consider AI to be ChatGpt or chatbots only.
However, AI has existed in some form for decades.
And he said the federal government needs to maintain robust science and technology funding if the US really wants to win the AI race.
Not only computer science, but many other technologies are moving the AI ball forward.
And university researchers play a key role, not just in Silicon Valley companies, Dahbura said.
How does Trump’s new plan of action differ from former President Joe Biden’s approach to AI?
“At the top level, these approaches aren’t as detailed as we would like,” Darbra said. “And this is no exception. Clearly, the Biden administration was more concerned about the benefits of AI and the risks that come with how they are dealing with them. Not only do they crush AI, but they also say, “Hey, let’s look into these things you know. Let’s get the solution.”
Weiss said the current administration clearly focuses on growth rather than safety.
“It’s always our position that you have to trust in order to grow,” Weiss said. “And if people don’t trust a product because they don’t have safety or guardrails or anything like that, that’s going to hinder growth.”
One of Trump’s new executive orders is designed to promote “exporting full-stack American AI technology packages to allies and partners around the world.”
Schiff said Biden has pushed for more export controls.
He then said that exporting American AI technology would result in a “double use problem.”
“There are countries that are ally, there are countries that are enemies. There are countries that work with the enemy,” he said.
The administration may be at risk of American AI technology ending in the wrong hands without the more sophisticated scope of what can be exported, he said.
Schiff described Trump’s plan as “a shot across the bow, a high level of aspiration,” rather than a detailed policy.
And he also said that Trump might be in the AI industry.
“This certainly coincides with what a certain corner was looking for even every corner of a large AI company,” Schiff said.
Dahbura and Schiff said Trump’s orders for “waking up” AI may ignore the complexity of how bias can plague technology.
“It’s not just two directions. It’s not politics. There are all sorts of bias,” Darbra said.
And he said bias could move in an unpredictable direction.
AI could reduce the inherent risks, but may not have been ruled out, he said. He said that was the “beast’s nature.”
Bias is one of these risks.
Dahbura said there is a bias in both algorithmic and social.
A dangerous example of non-political bias could be from healthcare AI systems that misdiagnose patients, Dahbura said.
“I think politicizing technology at this point is a big mistake,” he said.
Schiff said the White House would make sense to look for objective AI systems.
However, he said the administration is calling for only certain types of perceived bias.
There are obvious mistakes, but there are also more subjective forms of bias.
And Weiss said the administration’s focus on eliminating the “awakening” AI system could potentially place discriminatory AI systems.
“That should be a concern for people, children, families, and the average consumer,” Weiss said. “People wanting to rent an apartment, people looking to buy it, people applying for a job, AI plays a role in all of them. It has all sorts of bias built into it.”
