The AI Dangers of a Second Trump Presidency | TechPolicy.Press

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the Biden administration's approach to AI governance and contrasts it with the Republican platform's stance, which the article characterizes as abandoning workers and consumers to the unchecked power of tech companies.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Biden Administration's AI Policy

1. What are the key elements of the Biden administration's approach to AI governance?

• The Biden-Harris administration laid out a comprehensive theory of AI governance, offering a framework for responsibly developing AI technology to unlock its potential benefits while addressing issues like job loss, data privacy, and distrust of tech companies.
• The executive order dispatched the federal government to:
  • Prioritize workers by investigating the labor market impacts of AI in the workplace and placing workers at the table for decisions about the coming tech transition.
  • Focus on innovation and competition, creating opportunities for small firms, startups, and workers in the AI ecosystem, while encouraging federal agencies to lead by example in responsibly using AI tools to improve public services.
  • Use existing authorities to keep people safe from current and looming AI harms, such as discriminatory tenant screening algorithms and unchecked AI tools that could be used to engineer dangerous biological materials.

2. How did the Biden administration's approach to AI governance receive praise and support?

• The policy was characterized as the "most expansive" attempt by the US to date to grapple with AI.
• Civil rights leaders, who had criticized the federal government for abdicating oversight responsibilities and allowing the tech industry to self-regulate, applauded the administration's forward-leaning approach to governing the impacts of AI use on discrimination and privacy.
• The article states that the Democrats' AI policy, shaped by the likely nominee's (Biden's) ideas and priorities, sends a straightforward message to US workers, parents, entrepreneurs, and advocates that the administration has their back.

[02] The Republican Platform on AI

1. How does the article characterize the Republican platform's stance on AI governance?

• The article states that the Republican platform, rather than asserting a vision for America's future, is a list of grievances that closely mirror the GOP standard bearer's (Trump's) most bombastic rally lines.
• Tucked among these complaints and threats is Trump's pledge to repeal the historic White House executive order on safe, secure, and trustworthy development of AI.
• The article argues that the Republican platform's approach to AI governance is to put responsibility for assessing AI tools' safety into the hands of the powerful industry players who are building and profiting from them, effectively leaving workers, consumers, and the public on their own.

2. What are the potential consequences of the Republican platform's stance on AI, as described in the article?

• The article suggests that the Republican platform's approach would "unleash an already out of control industry, with harms that would permeate nearly every aspect of our lives."
• It argues that under the Republican platform, people would be on their own if they face issues such as:
  • Big Tech squeezing them out of the infrastructure needed to develop an AI small business
  • Being denied critical healthcare benefits due to decisions rendered by an AI system
  • Employers using automated tools to surveil them or stifle union organizing
  • Falling victim to AI-enabled fraud or deepfake nudes
  • Losing lifesaving benefits unjustly cut by an algorithm

3. How does the article contrast the Republican platform's stance with the public's desire for government leadership on AI?

• The article cites a meta-analysis suggesting that Americans want government leadership on AI, and states that the Biden administration's AI executive order is the nation's "best hedge against the risks posed by AI–and the way to steer toward potential benefits."
• The article argues that the Republican platform's AI pledge is not a policy solution, but rather "a campaign promise to Big Tech" that would unleash an already out-of-control industry.