How is AI Involved in the White House?

Falling behind or fully behind?

Even an arguably high level of doubt pushing its way towards the Trump Administration from diverse directions, it is actually possible that they’re doing one thing right. In what might be seen as a surprise move, given his support on the campaign trail of possibly stagnant industries like the coal mining industry and the traditional, in-country manufacturing industry, Trump’s White House has announced what seems to be a high level of support for Artificial Intelligence. What this announcement seems to be saying is that the current USA Administration realizes that it is most likely inevitable that Artificial Intelligence will truly be a leading industry in the future.

On top of this, statements have been made to the effect that this White House will do everything in its power to support the continued innovation and development in the AI space. Given Trump’s current track record related to flipping stances on serious issues quite suddenly, a logical question to ask is: how true are these statements and what’s really behind these announcements?

Regardless of your political beliefs, it is nearly indisputable that Trump and his supporting cast have shied away from throwing too much support behind what are often seen as “Silicon Valley ideas.” Even so, these announcements are contrary to the opinions held by the mainstream media to the effect that Trump’s presidency will catalyze the rise of coal, oil, manufacturing and finance industries.

Perhaps, startups and innovation haven’t been left out, but have only been put on the back burner for now. The true aim of this new stance could lie in how Trump spokesmen and spokeswomen have attempted to explain it. Michael Kratsios, who is basically Trump’s spokesman related to the technology industry, said that the White House’s support of AI lies in the implication that it will eventually help the USA move further ahead of other countries, economically.

The majority of direct quotes from this event seem to be more general like this one and therefore, they seem to shy away from taking a more direct stance on specialized areas of AI or even, AI governance, which is a hot topic among the most successful leaders in technology. The veracity of these announcements will most likely continue to prove elusive until actual action is taken to back them up. With Trump especially, it appears that actions tell the tale and words are only window dressing.

In future pieces, it will be interesting to delve into the implications related to how this all plays out in order to see how future events connect with these original statements. Will AI continue to succeed on US soil? Will the opposite occur? Will Trump make a blunder that proves costly to some of AI’s progress in the states? Only time will tell.