Trump’s Alleged Anti-Bias AI Mandate: A Masterclass in Irony

“Trump’s Anti-Bias AI Order Is Just More Bias”

“Shortly after saying that ‘artificial intelligence is something that’s tremendously important and tremendous potential for the future,’ President Trump on Monday signed an executive order meant to improve the technology”, states Greg Allen, deputy chief technology officer for the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

Let’s get one thing straight: Trump’s attempt at playing catch-up in the global AI race with his new executive order is admirable – but it’s too little, too late. But hey, at least it’s an acknowledgement of a future dominated by AI.

The executive order, nebulous as it may sound, does set clear goals: enhancing access to government data for research (privacy concerns, who?), reducing regulatory barriers to AI innovation and promoting the development of AI skills among American workers. The ultimate goal? Outshine international competition, allies or otherwise. Are we stepping into a sci-fi dystopia or what?

Silicon Valley’s leading players – Google, Microsoft et al. – are up against a formidable opponent, China, that’s making monumental progress in AI research and innovation. We’re not just talking about cute robots that serve coffee, but innovations that have national security implications.

Getting down to the nitty-gritty, the order insists on setting AI governance standards. A task that seems Herculean, considering the recent debacles involving OpenAI’s too-dangerous-to-release language model, GPT-2, and Google’s Project Maven. Nevertheless, it’s high time someone tried to keep these tech giants on a leash.

While the order bemoans a significant talent gap, it conveniently leaves us hanging for plans to upskill the American workforce. A casual mention of helping workers gain AI-relevant skills would have been a nice touch, but such small details are often overlooked in grand political gestures.

It’s inspiring to see this push for transparency in AI, calling for agencies to make data and models for AI research available to the public. However, it’s worth noting that this “openness” has its limits. Let’s not forget that Google ditched the ‘don’t be evil’ tagline and we all know how that turned out.

So, as we all stand on the cusp of this brave new world, applauding the belated recognition of AI’s vast potential, let’s not forget the hurdles that lie ahead. Strides towards regulating the AI landscape and ensuring fair play by huge technology conglomerates are challenges that demand more than just an executive order. “Tremendously important” indeed, Mr.Trump.

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/trump-ai-order-bias-openai-google/