President-elect Donald Trump has expressed intentions to overturn the artificial intelligence policy established by President Joe Biden during his upcoming return to the White House. The implications of this potential repeal for the landscape of AI technology remain uncertain. This week, scientists and AI specialists from across the globe are convening in San Francisco to consider measures for ensuring AI safety, and clarity on these matters would be beneficial for them.
The meeting, organized by Biden’s administration, will involve officials from several allied nations, including Canada, Kenya, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the 27-member European Union. Their discussions, beginning Wednesday in the prominent AI development city of California, will focus on pressing challenges like identifying and addressing the proliferation of AI-generated deepfakes that contribute to fraud, impersonation, and sexual exploitation.
This assembly marks the first since an international AI summit held in South Korea in May, where leaders agreed to create a network of publicly funded safety institutes aimed at enhancing research and testing within this emerging technology. Biden has previously enacted a comprehensive AI executive order and established the AI Safety Institute under the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Commerce Department.
Trump, during his campaign, pledged to abolish Biden’s executive order, condemning it as detrimental to AI innovation and labeling it as influenced by extreme left ideas concerning technological development. However, he has not specified which aspects of the order he opposes or his plans regarding the AI Safety Institute. Thus far, Trump’s transition team has not responded to inquiries for clarification on these points.
Industry representatives, including major tech firms like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, have largely supported Biden’s AI safety framework, advocating for Congress to maintain the new institute and embed its activities in law. Some analysts believe that the ongoing technical discussions in San Francisco will continue unaffected by political leadership changes. Heather West, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, suggested that there is no indication that the core activities of the AI Safety Institute will undergo a drastic shift.
Trump did not concentrate heavily on AI during his presidency, although he made history in 2019 by signing the first executive order on AI, which instructed federal agencies to prioritize research and development. Prior to this, tech specialists were urging the Trump administration to strengthen its AI strategies in alignment with global competitors. In the final days of his term, Trump also approved an executive order advocating for the use of “trustworthy” AI within the federal government, practices which continued under Biden.
The landscape has since evolved, particularly following the introduction of ChatGPT in 2022, which ignited both public intrigue and concern regarding generative AI. This recent surge has further stimulated growth in AI-related enterprises. Additionally, notable tech figure and Trump’s advisor, Elon Musk, has been appointed to lead a governmental cost-cutting commission. Musk is known for his strong perspectives on the risks associated with AI and has longstanding grievances against certain leaders in the sector, including a lawsuit against OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT.