Waiting Until Catastrophe for Governance: Harris vs. Trump on AI

?? Unpack this week’s edition of Ctrl + Alt + Comply – your dose of news in the tech and compliance landscape. Happy reading!

With the US presidential elections getting closer and closer, debates are becoming increasingly tense, and topping the agenda of people’s interest right now are conversations regarding AI governance. The unprecedented growth of AI, quite rightly, is fueling worries over privacy, first and foremost, but also bias and misinformation. Whilst neither Harris nor Trump have said too much on their current stances on regulation, there are clear signs of where they’re likely to land on the matter.?

For our eighteenth edition of Ctrl + Alt + Comply, we’ll be discussing how Harris and Trump are approaching AI regulation, and what this might mean for US policymakers, businesses, and citizens. Don’t miss out on this read!

How Does Harris Plan on Regulating AI??

Many are wondering what Harris would do with the remnants of the AI policy left by the Biden administration. Namely, the Biden administration’s approach to AI regulation has emphasized risk and mitigation, with the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, published at the end of 2022, exemplary of this. Within this document, there is a primary focus on preventing unintended harmful consequences from the use of unsafe or ineffective systems. Prevention is presented in the form of limiting data use, thorough audits of AI-affiliated businesses, and grappling with algorithmic bias and discrimination.?

Should Harris win the presidency, it is likely that she will continue along these lines of rolling out legislation for the development of responsible AI, which encourages innovation, whilst placing strong emphasis on the rights of consumers. Before even assuming her Vice President position, she was lobbying for the regulation of tech, advocating for laws that take a stand against cyberbullying, and campaigning for privacy protections for tech giant users.

Furthering this stance, in a November 2023 speech, she said the following in light of managing dangers to ensure AI is safe for the masses:?

“When a senior is kicked off his healthcare plan because of a faulty AI algorithm, is that not existential for him? When a woman is threatened by an abusive partner with explicit, deep-fake photographs, is that not existential for her?”

Trump’s Stance on AI Governance

Trump has made much more limited remarks with regard to AI regulation and governance. Saying that, it appears that he is likely to revoke Biden’s AI Executive Order, calling it “dangerous” and claiming that the “Radical Leftwing ideas” within the order “hinders AI innovation”. Based upon these statements alone, one could assume that, if Trump were to win the presidency in November, he would cut down on any kind of AI regulation that, to him, stands in the way of the development of technology.

Doubling down on this sentiment, Trump made a statement a few months back wherein he reportedly stated that one of his first orders of business would be to review "unnecessary and burdensome regulations" on AI development – instead calling for an “industry-led” approach, likely to favor tech companies.?

Final Thoughts: The Future of AI Regulation in the US

So, based on the statements we have to work with, it seems that Trump is anti-regulation, compared to Harris who favors a more regulated AI landscape. Mark Quinn, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Cetera Financial Group poignantly said the following:

“A lot of regulation and legislation comes out of catastrophes. If there is a catastrophe, I think you could assume that either or both administrations would jump on it and do something.”

However, there are two pivotal questions in response to this: a) why should anyone have to wait until the point of catastrophe for AI governance, which is very much needed right now, and b) the word catastrophe can probably be interpreted in a multitude of ways, meaning there is no logic to or consistency to such a line of thought. Only time will tell how this will actually unfold. Thoughts?

Compliantly Yours,?

spektr

Like what you read? Click the subscribe button in the top right corner! And for those of you interested in achieving full-cycle compliance automation, shoot us a message or learn more about the spektr platform.?