Latest news with #USAIActionPlan
IOL News
16 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
The AI race is getting serious on the global stage and it's time to pick a side
Global leaders have entered the AI race. Last week, the US President Donald Trump announced the US AI Action plan. He described it as, 'An industrial revolution, an information revolution, and a renaissance—all at once.' A few days later China proposed a framework to govern AI development. What these superpowers have said and plan about AI is important for all of us who will be affected by this technology. The US plan proposed the 'cutting regulations to spur AI innovation and adoption, speeding up the buildout of AI data centers, exporting AI 'full technology stacks' to US allies and partners, and ridding AI systems of what the White House calls 'ideological bias'. The plan makes it clear that the US will use AI to achieve its political goals. If the plan gets implemented it seems what gets said by AI will matter a lot. The plan has great focus on AI ideological bias. On the other hand, China's proposal suggests that it's concerned about fragmentation in AI governance. More importantly, China is keen to develop an AI environment that moves away from AI dominance by just a few countries. To that effect it proposes that its AI development tool should be shared with others. Knowing about the AI approaches of both these super powers is important for South Africa. Going forward it will be impossible for South Africa to be non-aligned (in theory). The situation is forcing South Africa to choose a friend. China is planning to build an AI foundation that will enable countries in the South to be independent and not dependent on China. On the other hand, the US is building an AI foundation that will maintain the status quo that will mean global tech leadership by the US. If South Africa chooses to adopt AI platforms from the US it will have to also accept that it will be an AI slave. The China promise, however, seems to be an option that could allow South Africa to maintain its sovereignty. We are at a point where we all need to make up our mind about AI tools that we use. It's becoming clear that AI tools are not neutral tools. Most of them are aligned with their countries of origin. Understanding these developments should assist all in making informed decisions. Adopting AI is not just about adopting a tool that solves a problem. An AI tool that we will adopt will also inform how we live. We all need to choose wisely very fast. We need to always remember that for now the newly released AI blueprint from the US is aimed at vastly expanding the US AI exports to allies in a bid to maintain the American edge over China in the critical technology. According to a US Think Tank, the US AI Action Plan's strongest message is that the United States should meet, not curb, global demand for AI. To achieve this, the plan suggests a novel and ambitious approach: full-stack AI export packages through industry consortia. On the other hand, China wants AI to be openly shared and for all countries and companies to have equal rights to use it. The sooner nations choose their AI partners the sooner they master their AI destiny.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Open-Source Reigns in US AI Action Plan
Credo AI CEO Navrina Singh discusses the new US AI Action Plan and why open-source development is a key component. She joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech." Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Open-Source Reigns in US AI Action Plan
Credo AI CEO Navrina Singh discusses the new US AI Action Plan and why open-source development is a key component. She joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on 'Bloomberg Tech.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Euronews
01-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
US Senate says no to deregulating AI in 99-1 vote
US senators defeated a proposal that would ban states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The US Senate voted 99-1 on Tuesday to get rid of the provision from President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks that would've banned any AI regulation for 10 years at the state level. Under the original proposal, states that wanted federal AI investment would have to 'pause any enforcement of any state restrictions, as specified, related to AI models, AI systems, or automated decision systems' for a decade. Republicans tried to save the provision by bringing it down to five years but that was later abandoned when Republican senators Edward Markey, Maria Cantwell and Marsha Blackburn introduced a late-night motion to scrap the entire proposal. 'Massive bipartisan opposition' State lawmakers and AI safety advocates argued that the rule is a gift to an industry that wants to avoid accountability for its products. "Congress will not sell out our kids and local communities in order to pad the pockets of Big Tech billionaires," Senator Markey said in a statement after the vote, noting that the provision to strip AI regulation is "dangerous". Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute, said in a statement that the "overwhelming rejection" to the amendment "underscores the massive bipartisan opposition to letting AI companies run amok". "The CEO's of these corporations have admitted they cannot control the very systems they're building, and yet they demand immunity from any meaningful oversight," he wrote. Those in President Trump's camp like argue that a patchwork of state and local AI laws could hinder the country's progress in the industry and could hurt its capability of competing with China. Earlier this year, a report from Stanford University found that the US is still in the lead, followed closely by China, in the global race to become an AI leader. World leaders say that winning the race is critical to national security, developments in health, business and technology. What do US Big Tech companies think? Big Tech companies are split on how far AI regulation should go and who should be enforcing it. OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, said in its submission for the US AI Action Plan that it favours a "regulatory strategy that ensures the freedom to innovate," which would include "voluntary partnership" between government and the private sector. Google advised lawmakers to "preempt a chaotic patchwork of state-level rules on frontier AI development," by focusing on the existing regulations that are already in place. In its submission, Meta quoted US Vice President JD Vance who said earlier this year that "excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as its taking off". Meta specified that it considers regulations that impose restrictions on AI models "based on obsolete measurements," or impose "onerous" reporting or testing would "impede innovation in the US". Along with changes to state AI legislation, Meta also asked the Trump administration to "reduce barriers to AI infrastructure investment," such as permitting barriers for data centre investments. What has Trump done so far on AI? In one of the first acts of his second term, Trump released an executive order that called for the end of "AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation," so the country can retain "global leadership". Trump also removed a 2023 executive order from former president Joe Biden that increased the federal government's capacity to "regulate, govern and support responsible use of AI". Trump has also introduced another executive order to enhance the use and teaching of AI systems in US schools, revised government procurement laws so agencies can adopt AI and launched an AI action plan that is currently under review.
