AI Policy – United States

AI is the second highest R&D priority after the security for American people in 2020. Compared to China’s investment of tens of billions in AI development, the DoD will invest two billion over five years towards the advancement of AI. The priorities of the Trump administration are as follows: 1. Funding AI research, 2. removing regulatory barriers to the deployment of AI-powered technologies 3. training the future American workforce, 4. achieving strategic military advantage, 5. leveraging AI for government services 6. working with allies to promote AI R&D Furthermore, the subcommittee on Information Technology has led a three part series on AI. These have culminated in a 20 page report that details the narrative that AI is providing on our society, from job growth, to job destruction, to self-driving cars. One major take away is that while other countries are currently investing in the state of AI, the United States is still in the exploratory phase. As a result, it leads one to believe that the institutional support for AI is lagging, and current growth is fueled by the free market. The effects of this remain to be seen; we expect it to delay growth in regulation-heavy industries such as self-driving cars and healthcare applications.