Trump Debuts AI Development Initiative

President Donald Trump is gearing up to sign an initiative later on Monday (Feb. 11) that will focus on artificial intelligence development in the U.S. in an effort to stimulate the market.

According to a report in The Verge, as the Trump administration has been giving little attention to AI at a time when nations around the world have rolled out development initiatives, the White House is now changing course. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Monday to create the American AI Initiative.

It is said that the initiative will redirect federal funding and resources to artificial intelligence research and drive the creation of international standards for AI led by the U.S. The initiative will also focus on retraining American workers so they can work in the AI fields. The report noted that the Trump administration doesn’t plan on laying out a timeline as to when it will reach its goals, but will provide more details during the next six months.

The American AI Initiative is expected to cover five categories, including R&D, freeing resources, implementing ethical standards, driving automation and pursuing initiatives on an international basis. In the case of R&D, The Verge reported that the plan calls for federal agencies to prioritize AI investments in their research and development budgets. As for freeing resources, the initiative will make federal data, algorithms and processing power available to researchers so they can apply AI to transportation and healthcare. The ethical standard is also a big focus, with the plan calling on government agencies, such as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to create standards to ensure that development is done in a trustworthy and secure way.

Government agencies will also be tasked with preparing workers for changes in the job market due to AI via fellowships and apprentices. The White House also plans to work with other countries to develop AI.

As the report noted, the plan lacks any mention of immigration, despite the fact that America is leading in AI in part because the country has been able to attract foreign talent. Experts contend that researchers are getting deterred by the Trump administration’s stance on immigration, which could hurt AI efforts. The number of overseas graduates that come to the U.S. to work declined by 5.5 percent from 2016 and 2017, noted the report.