Trump’s plan to make America first in artificial intelligence

Although artificial intelligence was invented in the US, other nations have made bigger moves to back the technology. President Trump hopes to change that by signing an executive order launching the US government’s own AI strategy, Will Knight writes.

The “American AI Initiative”: The plan hopes to achieve five things: get federal agencies to prioritize investments in AI, make federal data and resources available to AI researchers, establish standards for AI systems, retrain workers, and collaborate with others internationally.

Hands-off: The Trump administration had been criticized for a hands-off approach to AI compared to other governments. China announced a sweeping plan for funding and developing AI in 2017, for example. Many in the government are apparently concerned about the US losing its edge.

Only a first step: The initiative’s goals are lofty, but the details are vague. And it will not include a big lump sum of funding for AI research. It contains all the right elements, but it is only a first step, according to Jason Furman, a Harvard professor who advised the Obama administration on AI. “The critical test will be to see if they follow through,” he says.

Read the full story here.