How will a Harris or Trump victory affect the development of AI?

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A week after the former Republican president Donald Trump and her Democratic counterpart Kamala Harris face each other in the United States presidential election and with polls hanging in the balance, the future direction of the United States on artificial intelligence (AI) remains up in the air, as both candidates contrast sharply in their approaches to regulating and managing the technology.

Unlike the EU, where the AI Law was passed earlier this year in an attempt to curb high-risk machine learning tools, The United States lacks national AI standards. However, during the current term of outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden, the US government signed an executive order allowing it to make broader use of AI and keep commercial use of AI under tighter control.

Trump has promised to repeal it if elected. “We will repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous executive order that hinders innovation in artificial intelligence and imposes radical left-wing ideas on the development of this technology. Instead, Republicans will support the development of artificial intelligence rooted in freedom of speech and the human flourishing,” Trump said in his manifesto.

Big tech companies are likely to welcome less regulation. In July, Meta complained about the strict regulatory environment in Europe and decidednot implementing your AI model here due to regulatory concerns.

“I hope that the new Commission examine these questions anewin line with President von der Leyen’s goal of completing the EU’s Digital Single Market, so that Europeans can benefit from this new wave of technologies,” Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, said in October. Trump says he spoke with Apple’s Tim Cook earlier this month to share his concerns about the EU, including fine of 13,000 million of euros that he was ordered to pay in Ireland after not paying taxes.

Historic investment to keep the US a leader in AI

Harris adopts a different approachbuilding on existing commitments in the executive order. In your manifesthas said this will “strengthen innovation and competitiveness, protect workers and consumers as technology advances, and develop a federal workforce trained in artificial intelligence.”

Harris wants the United States to continue leading the development and research of new technologiesand its large-scale commercialization. She and her running mate, Tim Walz, propose “a historic investment to shore up our national and economic security, ensuring that the United States (not China) is the leader in AI by expanding and making permanent the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, a shared research infrastructure to give startups and researchers access to the most advanced computing power, data and analytical tools, to drive responsible discovery and innovation in AI.”

Daniel Schnurr, professor of Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantification at the University of Regensburg, Germany, told Euronews that Harris is “more likely to continue on the current path.” Also predicts that the Harris administration will be “more active in terms of regulation of AI compared to Trump, although the approach will likely be much more lax than something like the EU’s AI regulation in any case,” he added. A Trump victory, by contrast, would introduce much more uncertainty for providers of AI.

And study think tank Bruegel found that in the first half of 2024 alone, of the more than $35 billion invested globally in AI startups, the EU attracted just 6%. Despite European Commission initiatives designed to accelerate AI adoption and development by making AI supercomputers available to startups, The United States continues to invest more in AI.

Schnurr added that the result of the vote probably won’t change significantly the United States’ advantage in terms of commercial artificial intelligence technology and leading digital services. “The competitive gap in terms of the largest AI service providers is currently too large to change rapidly in a short period of time,” he said.

The use of AI in campaign

AI technology has also been implemented in the US presidential campaign, pointing to problems with poorly regulated tools in that country and the possible contribution of AI to fake news. Trump, who claims he will “restore free speech” when elected, posted himself images generated by artificial intelligence of the American singer Taylor Swift that seemed to support him, which he later acknowledged were false. Swift ended up endorsing Harris in September.

Elon Muska Trump-supporting tech mogul and owner of X-Men, shared a video of Harris on his platform, created using a video tool. voice cloning with artificial intelligence, without originally indicating that it was intended to be a parody. “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility in the debate,” the fake video said.

The United States Federal Communications Committee (FCC) has proposed that all radio and television channels that broadcast political advertisements check if they contain content generated by artificial intelligence and, if so, broadcast a live advertisement, which would reflect EU rules on political advertising. However, these rules will not come into force before the vote of the November 5.