What the election of former President Trump means for AI

With the victory of Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the key question for the tech world is what changes AI vendors and enterprises that use the technology can expect in the next four years.

Some experts say Trump will eliminate some of the AI policies and proposals that emerged during President Joe Biden's administration. Chief among these is Biden's executive order on AI technology, which some see as a target for Trump.

Michael Bennett

In this Q&A, Michael Bennett, AI policy adviser at Northeastern University's Institute for Experiential AI, dives into what the new Trump presidency means for AI technology.

Editor's note: This Q&A has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

What does the election of Donald Trump for the second time mean for AI and tech?

Michael Bennett: Now that we know the results of the 2024 presidential election, we have to imagine that the rather strong stance on regulating AI that the Biden administration had taken ... will probably be modified.

It will be turned into something that is much less concerned with the kind of applied ethics that we saw at the base of a fair amount of what the Biden administration had set in place through executive orders, through the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.

This will probably wind up exacerbating what we've already been seeing as well. Namely, that in the absence of any sign of the federal government promulgating national law, states and municipalities feeling like it's up to them to regulate AI and its various applications if AI is going to be significantly regulated at all by new laws domestically.

It will probably also lead many of those same governmental units, states and municipalities to look, if they haven't already, much more closely at preexisting law. This includes laws that they've had on their books for periods that precede the release of ChatGPT to figure out whether they're among preexisting laws or tools that can be used to regulate AI, even if AI is not called out in that law at all.

Those types of things seem predictable. We can imagine that over the course of the second Trump term that the regulatory terrain for artificial intelligence domestically will become more tangled and complicated to navigate. You will very likely have a growing number of state and municipal laws. If you are a national corporation or multinational, that will make for just a more complicated space in which you are attempting to do business and make money.

Could the return of Trump lead to more freedom for AI vendors in their release of new products?

Nothing is changing for businesses. There's still extreme competition. There's still rapid development and deployment of new forms of AI.

Bennett: We'll probably have to wait a little bit to see. The answer to that question will turn on the degree to which the EU AI Act has the Brussels effect, as we call it. That's the degree to which its reach extends into the U.S., either directly or indirectly, and causes U.S.-based businesses and other entities to effectively curb their behavior so they are complying with that law, so they can do business effectively in the EU without being fined.

It may take a little while to figure that out. At the same time, nothing is changing for businesses. There's still extreme competition. There's still rapid development and deployment of new forms of AI. It's probably safe to assume that it'll be a rare big business, or large corporation, that feels like it can wait and see or pump the brakes.

If Republicans control Congress and the White House, you as a company would probably be safe in assuming that the government will take a relatively hands-off approach to dealing with AI companies.

If you're gambling in that kind of way, rationally, you'd be inclined and in that kind of position to accelerate, to go ahead and get products out quickly, get services out quickly. You probably feel like you know that for the duration of this presidency, starting in January 2025, that you will have nearly four years to take advantage of that relatively higher degree of freedom from regulation. It would be strange if you didn't take advantage of that.

How might the relationship that Trump has with xAI owner Elon Musk affect the tech and AI industries?

Bennett: Musk has effectively been promised a role in this administration. We don't know if it would be a cabinet-level position. The president-elect has said, as far as I can understand it, that he is very interested in having Musk help his administration make the government more efficient and, specifically, cut costs.

Given what we know about where Elon is coming from -- in terms of business priorities, in terms of ambition, in terms of politics and some would say in terms of ethics as well -- we probably would be silly to imagine that Musk's effect would be limited to his company, or that his activities over the last few years would potentially be an inspiration for others who want to mimic his success.

Instead, we should be thinking that Musk might effectively be able to set policy agendas related to technological development and national research policy and innovation policy. He might be able to impact how this new administration thinks about how it requires agencies to integrate AI.

Many of those integrations have been largely focused on increasing efficiencies.

Many of them also have been concerned with facilitating the flow of information or processes or purchasing power using AI. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Musk were integral in helping this new administration think through how best to internally deploy AI to achieve greater efficiencies. Nor would I be surprised if Musk also helps this new administration think about how it wants to position itself on the broader deployment of AI across the board, everything from the military to education to health and wellness.

Esther Ajao is a TechTarget Editorial news writer and podcast host covering artificial intelligence software and systems.