New Democrat Coalition forms AI working group in the House of Representatives

Our top story today is that the New Democrat Coalition in the US House of Representatives has formed an AI working group. The moderate Democrat group stated that it would work with lawmakers and industry to build towards “sensible, bipartisan policies to address this emerging technology.” The announcement follows wider AI policy discussions including voluntary commitments made by leading AI companies to the White House in July and plans for the Senate to call industry experts later in the year.

In commercial tech news, Foxconn’s CEO Young Liu discussed the company’s billion-dollar investment in India with CNN stating that it “is only the beginning.” Despite withdrawing from a planned $19.4bn chipmaking plant with Vedanta in India, Foxconn has stated a commitment to invest in new semiconductor facilities in the country. Foxconn’s operations in India account for around 5% of the semiconductor company’s global business with the discussions of increased investments using government subsidies falling within India’s wider policy plans to grow the semiconductor sector in the country.

Read more below for a round-up of the other major policy stories currently shaping the tech sector.

Both Saudi Arabia and UAE are buying thousands of Nvidia chips in a bid to become competitive in AI. The Nvidia H100 chips purchased by the Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and the Technology Innovation Institute in UAE are designed specifically for generative AI projects. The high-performance chips are critical to training AI large-language models with a global shortage in the technology following significant increases in demand.

A court in India has ruled that Google must remove ads that infringe upon trademarks. The case related to the use of keyword advertising which led to a complaint after a company’s trademarked term returned search results relating to competitors. The use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising has led to frequent litigation. A notable example is in the Spanish Supreme Court in 2021 in which it was found that there were instances where the use of another business’s trademarked terms in advertising would constitute infringement.

The US Federal Communications Commission announced that more than 20 million households are enrolled in the agency’s affordable broadband program. The Affordable Connectivity Program program has been running for almost two years with the number of enrolled households doubling from around 10 million in early 2022. This program falls within a wider infrastructure plan allocating $42.5bn to states to increase internet access.

Reporting by?Nick Scott. For a further read:

More action needed as European Parliament votes on "milestone" AI act?Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, Senior Director – Corporate Affairs – EMEA & APJ, Workday

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