(Bloomberg) — Over the past two years, the Biden administration has struck a careful balance on artificial intelligence. The White House has taken steps to ensure the United States stays ahead of China in developing the technology, while trying to address some of AI’s many potential risks.
In his first 24 hours back in Washington, Donald Trump sent a different message to the AI community: Just build.
On Monday, Trump repealed Biden’s sweeping executive order on AI. The move immediately halted the implementation of key security and transparency requirements for AI developers. Some tech executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos praised his approach. Other experts have warned of an AI world with fewer guardrails. Trump is expected to issue a new executive order on AI, but with a lighter touch.
Ellison said data centers are currently under construction, including one in Abilene, Texas.
On the eve of taking office, Trump said he would pave the way for “people with lots of money” to invest in so-called “AI factories” to power data centers intended to artificial intelligence – regardless of whether these energy sources are good or bad for the environment.
With these early efforts, Trump is not only rethinking America’s approach to AI, but also distancing himself from Europe, sparking conflict between continents over how best to regulate AI and compete with China . The EU had already angered some big AI companies by enacting tougher tech legislation around privacy and security. By comparison, the Trump team has tapped high-profile tech figures, including billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, to help shape its tech and AI policies.
Exactly how Trump’s AI strategy ends up failing may depend in part on the role Musk played in influencing it. Musk has long had a nuanced view of technology. Although Musk has invested in AI through his startup xAI, he has also repeatedly warned that it poses an existential threat if left unchecked.
“It seems clear that the new administration is going to encourage technology and its growth,” said Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google (GOOG, GOOP) DeepMind, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Davos on Tuesday. “The administration gets advice from people who really understand what’s happening at the cutting edge.”
Hassabis was one of several tech executives at Davos who seemed cautiously optimistic about the early days of Trump’s second term and its implications for the development of AI.
Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s chief financial officer, told Bloomberg News that the Trump administration has already shown “a real willingness to get involved” and “to be very economically forward” in technology and of AI. Similarly, Alphabet Inc. Chairman Ruth Porat said Trump’s team wants to “remove some of the barriers to investment” in data centers and other infrastructure needed for AI.
“There is a tremendous opportunity to continue working with them,” Porat said.
In recent months, OpenAI and other companies have urged the Biden administration to pave the way for unprecedented investments in data centers and energy sources. OpenAI, in particular, required massive 5 gigawatt data centers, large enough to power entire cities.
Last week, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to lease government land for AI data centers, emphasizing the use of clean energy sources. Asked Tuesday if he would rescind the order, Trump said, “No, I wouldn’t do that.” It seems to me that this is something I would like.
Still, Trump is likely to ease clean energy requirements, said Joseph Majkut, director of the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. After touting future investments in AI at a rally this weekend, Trump said his administration would roll back “environmental regulations that are actually being put in place to stop progress in this country.”
If so, the Trump administration could put the onus on tech companies to decide their own comfort level with relying more on fossil fuels. In the race to build more power-hungry data centers for AI, Microsoft Corp.MSFT) and Google have already seen their ambitious climate commitments slip away.
“The key questions to watch are the extent to which large-scale enterprises are comfortable with powering new data centers with high-emissions energy, as they have their own climate goals and reputations to maintain ” said Majkut.
For the Trump administration, and perhaps many in the AI sector, climate and security concerns lie beneath the fear of being supplanted by China.
In Davos, Alphabet’s Porat said it’s not “a foregone conclusion” that the United States will maintain a lead over China in developing more sophisticated AI systems. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Friar said China is “absolutely investing in this area” and understands how critical AI is to its economy and security. “We shouldn’t be naive on this front,” she said.
As if to highlight this concern, DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, this week unveiled an updated AI model that it says is competitive with OpenAI technology. The founder of the company also appeared at a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, according to the South China Morning Post.
“In the last month alone, we have seen very powerful advances in China’s AI capabilities compared to those of our government,” Alexandr Wang, founder and CEO of Scale AI, a startup data labeling, in an open letter to Trump about his victory in the “AI War. Wang added: “You have the right team in place to take on this challenge and ensure we maintain our lead against our adversaries. »
Some industry observers, however, worry about the unintended consequences of winning this battle.
“This sets the United States up for short-term gains but long-term pain,” said Frank Pasquale, a law professor at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School. “Trump is paving the way for more investment in artificial intelligence where there is less risk of regulation,” he said, but “there were many good reasons to put safeguards in place “.
The goal, Pasquale said, “was to help companies move away from making dangerous products.” Now the U.S. government may be leaving it up to businesses to decide for themselves.
—With help from Mark Niquette.
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