U.S. will stay on top in AI, Trump adviser says
China, EU ramping up technology investments
President Donald Trump’s administration is warming up to the idea of investing more in artificial intelligence and finding ways to build new skills for the U.S. workers it replaces.
“The Trump administration will ensure our great nation remains the global leader in AI,” the president’s technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, said to a gathering of corporate leaders Thursday.
Kratsios hosted the Trump White House’s first summit on artificial intelligence, convening tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft and major retailers, banks, drugmakers, carmakers, food companies and engineering schools.
Some in the crowd had been pushing the administration to focus more on AI and related issues in science and technology. Academic leaders have pitched for more investment in basic research.
There is little doubt that U.S. tech companies and universities are already at the forefront in developing self-driving cars, robotics, smarter health diagnostics and other advances that rely on increasingly intelligent machines.
Naveen Rao, who leads the AI product unit at chipmaker Intel, said the United States enjoys “a nice lead that happened organically” and with help from prior investments going back decades.
But, he said, “other countries are organized, and organizing right now, around AI and how it’s going to change the future of work and the economy.”
China’s government announced last summer a goal of becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence in just over a decade by developing skills, research and educational resources to achieve major breakthroughs. A report last month from the U.S. Congressional Research Service described China as a “leading competitor” in using AI to develop military applications, including autonomous vehicles and computer systems that can make faster and better-informed decisions.
The European Union’s executive branch said last month it wants the bloc’s governments and companies to invest at least $24 billion in AI through 2020 in an attempt to remain globally competitive. The leaders of France and the U.K. have talked about making AI investments while also outlining concerns about developing the new technology with ethical guidelines.
John Holdren, who was the top presidential science adviser during the Obama administration, warned that the Trump administration’s late entry into outlining its approach to AI reflects broader concerns about its commitment to technological advancement. Holdren noted that his former job leading the nearly 40-year-old Office of Science and Technology Policy remains unfilled.
Trump, who is more than 15 months into his term of office, hasn’t yet nominated a replacement. Instead, Kratsios, a deputy assistant to the president for technology policy, detailed the administration’s AI strategy Thursday.
Kratsios said a new committee is being formed that will coordinate AI investments across federal agencies, including research related to autonomous systems, biometric identification, computer vision and robotics. He called for a “free-market approach” that would harness the combined strength of government, industry and academia while limiting regulation that could “hamstring” companies, according to a release. The event was closed to the media.