Tech industry scratches its head over Trump ‘AI Force’ proposal
Tech industry scratches its head over Trump ‘AI Force’ proposal
The tech industry is struggling to make sense of President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he is creating an artificial intelligence task force and appointing a czar to oversee the administration’s approach to the technology.
Trump, in alengthy Truth Social poston Saturday morning, said he was forming the government body and would also soon name an AI czar to lead it. He offered few details, leaving members of the tech world unsure what the task force would do, who would be involved or how it would operate.
Four representatives for the sector, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told POLITICO that the industry was not widely informed of Trump’s decision prior to the Truth Social post.
“Nobody knows what the idea even is,” one of the people said. Another said that feedback on the idea was not widely solicited within the industry.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several of those canvassed said they view the move as a response to growing public alarm at the developing technology’s potential risks. AI researchers at top AI labs in the past few weeks have issued stark warnings about the technology’s power to destroy humanity, while executives including Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis have called for a slowdown so its risks can be adequately addressed.
“I think that he clearly feels pressure to say something, but he’s torn because he’s just spent the last few days saying that the whole thing is a hoax,” Adam Kovacevich, CEO of the progressive tech industry coalition Chamber of Progress, said of Trump and his prior dismissal of AI doomsday scenarios
Since the departure of David Sacks, who stepped down as the Trump administration’s previous AI czar earlier this year, the White House has been “making up AI policy as it goes,” Kovacevich added. “I think it’s clear they’ve really missed the presence of an organized leader like David Sacks was.”
One of the tech industry representatives said they were confused about whether the task force would be charged with formulating more AI regulations or recommending policies that would further stimulate the tech’s development.
Taylor Barkley, director of federal government affairs at the industry-aligned Abundance Institute, is eyeing it as a way to solidify a light-touch government approach to the technology he says will foster innovation.
“Any AI Force or AI Czar should have one job: keep the field open so entrepreneurs at every scale can compete, free from onerous regulation,” he told POLITICO. “Existing criminal and civil law can handle bad actors. New permission regimes will stifle the very activity America needs most.”
Trump’s post Saturday showed a clear desire to keep the industry booming: “We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”
Trump’s comparison of the new AI task force to Space Force led at least one tech industry representative to speculate that the proposal could be led by the Pentagon. “Rather than use civilian agencies to regulate it, use the Pentagon to try and dominate it,” they said.
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and NVIDIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
John Hewitt Jones contributed to this report.
Students spent years collecting evidence against their Indonesian principal, before falling in love.
Polling stations opened Sunday in two German state elections in which the far-right AfD party is expected to make further gains that could determine whether Chancellor Friedrich Merz can hold on to power and push ahead with reforms in Europe’s biggest economy. The state elections are taking place in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a largely rural region in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, and in the capital, Berlin. The vote comes two weeks after the anti-migration, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany, or AfD, finished just short of a majority in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, and has its best chance yet of forming the country’s first far-right regional government since World War II.
The group is marking a decade of fishing everything from an inflatable doll to a Nintendo out of the harbour.
An oil refinery was also reportedly hit in Moscow, and flights were suspended at two capital airports.
Brig Snow was the senior British officer responsible for liberating the Channel Islands in 1945.
MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Ukraine launched what Moscow’s mayor called the biggest ever drone attack on the Russian capital on Sunday in what he said was an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the final day of a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Two people were killed in the surrounding Moscow region and the capital’s oil refinery – which has been hit before -was struck, local authorities said.
The route takes participants around the Roseland Peninsula, including Caerhays Beach.
KYIV, Sept 20 () – The death toll from an overnight Russian attack on the Kyiv region rose to four, including three children, Kyiv regional authorities said on Sunday. A mother and her two 3-year-old children were killed in Ukraine’s Kyiv region when a Russian drone strike hit a private home, the emergency service said.
Experts in the South West and Channel Islands reflect on rising numbers of the invasive species.
The Thirlwall Inquiry found concerns raised by doctors about Lucy Letby were all too often dismissed.
New face-covering powers have sparked debate among residents and young people
Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson says 60 missiles and drones struck Kiev in one afternoon during his trip.
Germans began voting Sunday in two state elections where far-right and far-left gains could send new shock waves to Berlin and rock the government of embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz.The election debacle came as Merz’s approval ratings have nose-dived and he has struggled to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his centre-left coalition partners the SPD.
The AfD will make fresh gains Sunday, polls suggest, although it is unlikely to come within reach of power in eith
Dogs Trust Kenilworth spotlights its new rehoming service created due to full kennels and foster homes.
Two mums who have seen both sides of child organ donation urge people to talk about what they would do.
Rhinologist James Dyson ensure gas supplies have the correct odour – essential for spotting leaks.
How an extraordinary seven days that rocked the party unfolded.
The well dates back to the late 1800s and is possibly related to the coal mining industry.
The Length of a Moment artworks sit in the new public park at the Oxford North development.
Funds will be provided to help turn units into apartments, the district council says.
Powered by WPeMatico