With President Joe Biden stepping down from the Presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, all eyes have turned to the potential Democratic nominee, and her take on hot-button issues like big tech, privacy rights, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Harris boasts a long friendship with Silicon Valley, but the Oakland native isn’t afraid to call out some of the biggest names in tech and roll out stricter regulations aimed at protecting consumers – specifically when it comes to AI.
With some polls suggesting that the current US Vice President could have a competitive advantage over Biden, we explore what her take on tech could mean for the future of the industry, and how her views contrast to those held by Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris’s Friendly Relationship With Big Tech
As a Bay Area native, and former attorney general and senator of California, there’s no denying that potential Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has a much longer and more intimate history with Silicon Valley than current President Joe Biden.
After receiving backing from many big tech titans during her run for state attorney general in California over a decade ago, she still shares close ties with the industry today.
Harris attended the wedding of Napster co-founder Sean Parker over a year ago, for instance, and her brother-in-law is Tony West, Uber’s chief legal officer.
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Since her bid for the presidency, she has received a flood of donations and public displays of support from powerful tech executives too, including Silicon Valley ‘super angel’ Ron Conway, co-founder of LinkedIn and long-time democrat donor Reid Hoffman, and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff. But while these close relationships suggest that Harris would be interested in maintaining business as usual, she also hasn’t been afraid to hold tech titans to account.
The presumptive Democratic candidate has previously called out social media CEOs, like Mark Zuckerburg for his company’s role in spreading misinformation during her time as a senator. Harris has also remained steadfast on tech privacy, specifically when it comes to protecting female reproductive rights in light of the repeal of Roe vs Wade, commenting that big tech companies should be “regulated in a way (to) ensure the American consumer can be certain that their privacy is not being compromised” during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Harris Believes That AI Presents “Existential Threats”
Harris has also been very outspoken about the challenges surrounding AI. Since being appointed as AI czar soon after Biden came into power, the Vice President has been committed to laying down the law in the industry, repeatedly commenting on the “existential threats” society is facing from the technology in public addresses, as well as the short-term risks.
Harris even warned top tech CEOs, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, that they have a ‘moral, legal responsibility’ to mitigate the risks of AI, and agrees with Biden that protecting the public from its danger doesn’t have to come at odds with advancing innovation.
“When a woman is threatened by an abusive partner with explicit deepfake photographs, is that not existential for her? When a young father is wrongfully imprisoned because of bias? Is that not existential for his family?” – Vice President Kamala Harris at the Global Summit on AI Safety in London
Harris honed in on issues such as AI scams, deepfake technology, and algorithmic bias in a 2023 address at the Global Summit on AI Safety in London, suggesting that the Vice President could roll out targeted policies to limit disruption of AI if she came into power.
However, with the Biden Administration still falling behind European governments when it comes to enshrining AI safeguards into law, it’s too soon to tell if Harris’s potential crackdown would be substantial enough to impact the average US citizen.
Donald Trump Is Less Concerned About AI Risks
Donald Trump’s disdain for Silicon Valley is no well-kept secret. Just last week the Republican frontrunner and former US President threatened to put Mark Zuckerburg in jail while accusing him of committing election fraud, and Trump also recently called out big tech companies for being “too big” and “too powerful” in an interview with Bloomsburg Businessweek.
However, just like Harris, Trump is currently receiving a wealth of donations and endorsements from tech billionaires supporting his libertarian, pro-business ideology, sparking concerns that the nominee won’t crack down on monopolies if he comes into power later this year.
Trump has also been a vocal critic of AI, claiming that the technology might be “the most dangerous thing out there” after a slew of deepfake images and videos emerged of him at the start of the year. Yet, with Republican delegates pushing to roll back federal restrictions on AI last week, and Trump calling for fewer AI guardrails himself, it’s likely that his return to power would only accelerate the unrestrained use of the technology, and exacerbate potential risks for consumers.
