Donald Trump has revoked an executive order put in place by Joe Biden that aimed to “drive safe, secure, and trustworthy development of AI”.
The order, created in October 2023, was the first ever executive order on how artificial intelligence is being developed and used in the US and was seen as a response to experts calling for greater regulation on the sector.
The move seeks to deliver on the Republican Party’s pre-election promise to repeal an act it called “dangerous” and support the development of AI in the United States.
Unleashing the Potential of American Citizens
Among a raft of executive orders signed by Trump on his first day back in the White House – including to give TikTok a 75 day lifeline – was one named the ‘Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions’.
The stated purpose of the order is to reverse practices forwarded by the Biden administration that it claims are “deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical”.
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“To commence the policies that will make our Nation united, fair, safe, and prosperous again, it is the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the Federal Government and unleash the potential of the American citizen.” — President Trump’s executive order
Among the 78 revoked laws was Biden’s ‘Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence passed on 30th October 2023.
Championing Innovation
Biden’s order broke ground by attempting, among other things, to establish standards for detecting AI-generated content, protect user privacy, lower cases of algorithmic discrimination and address concerns around national security.
At the time, White House Chief of Staff Bruce Reed claimed it to be the “strongest set of actions” any government had taken to safeguard AI (although the EU AI Act 2023 had been passed earlier in the year).
However, the 2024 Republican Party Platform upon which Trump built his campaign to return to the presidency clearly laid out the GOP’s thoughts on and intentions for the order as part of its plans to ‘Champion Innovation’:
“We will repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology. In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” – 2024 Republican Party Platform
Progress vs Protection
The reversal of the order will likely be music to the ears of the cavalcade of big tech CEOS who were in attendance at Trump’s inauguration, which included Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Sam Altman.
Only last week, an executive at OpenAI (that owns ChatGPT and is run my Altman) called artificial intelligence “a race America can and must win” and warned that failure to do so would stifle innovation and allow China and other foreign powers to gain an upper hand with the tech.
But there remain critics of the fast moving nature of the industry and what negative effect upcoming AI trends may have on the country. These fears were writ large when California lawmakers tried passing a controversial AI bill last year, with supporters voicing concerns that its rapid growth could lead to sweeping job cuts.
