During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump didn’t say much about his plans for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry in the United States.

The Republican Party platform’s only commitment to AI was to repeal a Biden-era executive order because it “hinders AI innovation” and “imposes radical left-wing ideas on the development of this technology.”

Otherwise, Trump’s new administration says it will “support AI development based on free expression and human flourishing.”

Since his victory, the president-elect has surrounded himself with both supporters and opponents of AI regulation. Its allies are reportedly exploring Manhattan projects to develop AI military technology. He also wants to introduce AI across the U.S. government.

What might a second Trump administration really mean? AI development in the USA? Euronews Next breaks it down as a clearer picture of his future presidency emerges

Repeal of Biden’s AI regulation

According to Andrew Strait, deputy director of the UK-based Ada Lovelace Institute, an AI think tank, President Biden’s 2023 executive order served two purposes.

The first was to establish a firm framework for the use of the technology in relation to national security.

The other was to promote a “set of strategies” and a “roadmap” for how the U.S. government could address how AI algorithms affect people’s access to government supports such as welfare, housing, health care or education could, Strait continued.

If Trump decides to repeal Biden’s executive order, he will have to scrap the whole thing and possibly reinstate parts of it in his own version, according to Susan Ariel Aaronson, a research professor of international affairs at George Brown University in Canada.

In 2020, Trump signed an executive order that defined trustworthy AI and ensured the models were valid, accountable, transparent and reliable, Aaronson said.

The executive order also published what is said to be the world’s first AI regulatory guideline.

“Many of these (Trump) building blocks cannot be achieved without some form of AI or corporate regulation,” she said.

Trump may also face resistance from other tech companies to repealing Biden’s executive order because it “provides clarity around the use of AI and its development,” Aaronson continued.

The future of AI risk research may be in jeopardy

One of the key creations under Biden’s executive order, Strait said, was the US AI Safety Institute, an independent research body that studies the risks associated with AI and its safe adoption.

The US AI Safety Institute is responsible for “advancing research and measurement science for AI safety,” according to its strategic vision.

In recent months, the institute has urged all major companies to provide statements about how they assess AI risks and disclose what types of frameworks they adopt, Strait said.

The panel has also started conducting pre-publication tests with AI companies to determine whether a system is safe or not.

For example, the institute is working with Big Tech to see whether their AI models generate racist or toxic content, and to measure how often AI chatbots “hallucinate” or invent misleading answers to questions they don’t know the answers to , Strait continued.

If Trump rescinds Biden’s order, there are other U.S. allies with AI safety institutions such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia that could fill the research gap that could be created by the U.S. shutdown, Strait continued.

President Biden could still protect the AI ​​Safety Institute by asking Congress to enact it into law before the end of his term, Aaronson said, but she doesn’t know if he will do so.

Euronews Next reached out to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the government department that houses the US AI Safety Institute, to find out their reaction to the latest US election results, but said, that one “cannot speculate on the matter”.

Influence of the (de)regulation of Trump’s inner circle

Trump also surrounds himself with people with different positions on AI regulation, Strait said.

A prominent Trump supporter is billionaire Elon Musk, who is a strong supporter of regulating AI to address the potentially catastrophic risks of the new technology.

According to an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Musk has already been hired by Trump to co-head a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) that will significantly reduce government spending Piece Musk was a co-author.

Musk also supported California’s Bill 1047, which would have created a “duty of care” for developers to mitigate such catastrophic risks, such as systems that could become uncontrollable. The The bill was ultimately rejected by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto in September.

Musk’s co-head of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, also calls for more regulation around AI.

“Just like if you’re a chemical company, you can’t dump your chemicals into someone else’s river, and today if you develop an AI algorithm that has a negative impact on other people, you’re responsible for that.” “Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, said in a televised debate in Iowa last year.

On the anti-regulation side is Vice President-elect JD Vance, who worked as a venture capitalist and biotech manager in Silicon Valley for almost five years.

Vance told a Senate committee in July that companies are focusing too much on regulating AI because of the threats posed by the technology. These regulations could make it harder for new companies to innovate, he continued.

Marc Andreessen, the head of the influential Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), is also against AI regulation.

Andreessen said in his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” last year that “regulatory capture” was the enemy.