10 November 2024

Trump’s potential impact on emerging and disruptive technologies

Sara Goudarzi

AI regulation

What kind of AI regulation should we expect from a second Trump administration? Here are three related sources of evidence that bear on this question. First, consider the Trump campaign’s own statements. Trump has said he’d repeal the “radical leftwing” Biden Executive Order on AI on day one. It’s unclear what material effect this will have: Federal agencies will continue to exercise oversight on many aspects of AI deployment in the normal course of business. But the anti-regulatory rhetoric is very clear, and the issue is slowly being made partisan, despite widespread public support for meaningful regulation, even among Republicans. But widespread public support is insufficient to motivate regulatory action: A comfortable majority of Americans have wanted stricter gun regulation for the past decade. Second, consider likely agency staffing. Trump hasn’t said who he’ll put in charge of national AI policy in his second term, but among his most vocal backers (and funders) are Silicon Valley venture capitalists such as Marc Andreessen, a self-described “techno-optimist” and “AI accelerationist” who wants to transform humanity into a race of “technological supermen.” Such associations are very unlikely to be entirely unconsulted when the Trump administration decides who is in charge of how fast large technology companies are allowed to move, and what things they are allowed to break.

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