White House Announces New Task Force To Promote ‘America First’ Approach For AI

The Trump administration announced the launch of Select Committee on artificial intelligence, convened under the National Science and Technology Council. It brought together government leaders, representatives of industries and prominent AI experts on a single platform to signal that the administration takes the impact of AI seriously.

It was announced by Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the President and deputy chief technology officer, at a White House event.

With the new AI task force, US wants to highlight the capacity for AI to rejuvenate parts of America that has been disrupted by automation. Kratsios also suggested that they aim to open up more taxpayer data so that it can be fed to AI algorithms. “We can greatly improve that research by opening access to the government’s vast troves of taxpayer-funded data in ways that don’t compromise privacy or security,” he was quoted as saying.

However, compared to the other nations, the initiative of forming a new task force might seem like a relatively small gesture towards promoting AI and planning its impact. US also faces contradictory views when it comes to boosting AI driven approaches. For instance, the government wants the US to capitalise on the technology and stay ahead of other nations, but is reluctant to plan and approve new funding.

While the establishment of AI task force is aimed at the overall growth, few experts are apprehensive of the move and fear that such a move would only harm the competitiveness of US AI research.

India joined the global AI race by setting up its AI task force to speed up the development in the space. Set up by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, it aims at accelerating rapid development in the fields of information technology and hardware. The 18-member Indian AI task force that comprises researchers, academics, experts and industry leaders is headed by IIT Madras’s Dr V Kamakoti.