- Donald Trump signed a new executive order on his first day as US President
- The order revokes a previous executive order, that demanded thorough research on AI tools before release
- This is in line with his presidential campaign
Day one of Donald Trump’s presidency has been marked by over 200 executive orders. The returning US president has used his executive power to sign in a number of drastic policy changes, among which is one regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Back in 2023, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14110, titled “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” The directive’s goal was to establish a national framework for governing AI in the United States.
It mandated that developers of AI systems, posing risks to national security, economic stability, or public health and safety, conduct rigorous safety tests and share the results with the federal government before public deployment.
The problem and promise of AI
The goal was to make sure potential risks of new AI tools were analyzed, before the tools were given to the general public.
Furthermore, the order directed federal agencies to create guidelines for the responsible use of AI, including measures to prevent algorithmic discrimination and protect civil rights. It also called for the development of standards to identify AI-generated content, aiming to address concerns related to misinformation and deepfakes.
On January 20, the first day of President Trump being in the Oval Office, he revoked this executive order, Reuters reports. This was in line with what Trump promised during his campaign, as the Republican party said it “supported AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing.”
Generative AI (GenAI) is a relatively new tool that can create new content, such as text, images, music, or code, after receiving commands (or prompts) in the form of natural human language. Opinion makers, the academia, and the general public, were both excited and afraid of this new technology.
On one end, it is exciting because it unlocks creativity, automates tasks, and enables groundbreaking applications, but on the other, it is scary since it can be abused in misinformation campaigns, and can lead to job displacement.
Via Reuters
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