Trump Releases ‘Disgraceful’ AI Framework to Serve Big Tech at Expense of Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump’s White House today released a “legislative framework” for regulating artificial intelligence (AI), which undermines states’ abilities to set their own standards and policies for AI under the guise of a “commonsense national policy.”
In response, Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman issued the following statement:
“This is a national framework to protect Big Tech at the expense of everyday Americans.
“It is an extraordinary payback to the Big Tech companies that have lined up to throw pocket change at Trump’s inauguration and for his ballroom and for the Melania movie and to settle bad faith lawsuits and more.
“Trump’s AI framework is a hollow document with only one tough and meaningfully binding provision, delivering Big Tech’s top policy priority: It aims to preempt all state laws and rules dealing with AI.
“Preemption would effectively mean no U.S. regulation of AI at all, with the narrow exception of rules to deal with nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, because there are no national rules in place – and this framework would impose no additional standards of consequence.
“Right now, states are taking action to address political deepfakes; the threats posed by AI companions to kids’ well-being; the harmful effects of algorithmic decision-making in health care, criminal justice, education and more; the newly emerging hazards of AI-led robotics; the use of AI to improperly screen and monitor workers; the threat AI poses to good-paying jobs; the dangers of AI-enabled surveillance; the consumer, energy and water impacts of data centers to train and run AI systems; AI and consumer fraud; the threats of out-of-control AI systems; and more.
“To be clear, states aren’t keeping up with the risks that Big Tech companies are imposing on Americans (and the world), but they are trying to meet the novel and enormous challenges of the moment. Which is exactly why Big Tech wants to shut down their efforts.
“The Trump proposal does acknowledge that consumers should not pay for the massive increase in data centers required for artificial intelligence at scale, but their solution is not to improve protections and limit these behemoths. Instead they want to relax critical safeguards surrounding permitting that protect us from environmentally unsafe construction and more.”
“This is a disgraceful proposal that, happily, will be dead on arrival in Congress.
“It does, however, show yet again that Donald Trump aligns his interests with the biggest corporations and the billionaire class, not those of the American people.”