Perspectives on US Tech Policy After November
Underneath the surface, the “politics” of American tech policy are likely more polarized than ever before, according to interviewees. That’s certainly a change from recent decades, when technology policy generally saw “a lot of bipartisan agreement,” according to Adam Thierer, senior fellow for the tech and innovation team at the R Street Institute. But now we see the culture wars dominating many tech policy discussions—perhaps most prominently with regard to social media and child online safety issues, but also increasingly with AI.
“The politics of technology have changed, and in a strange way,” said Thierer. While there’s still an interesting “nonpartisan element,” it’s now what he calls an ‘ends justify the means’ approach to technology regulation. “In a sense, AI has entered the culture wars, and we’re seeing both parties talk about how they fear AI from their own particular perspectives, violating their values, their institutions, their organizations…”
Either way, public concern over artificial intelligence and declining trust in tech firms appears to be one thing on which Americans agree.
- “I think a lot changed after Trump was deplatformed from Twitter, and there’s been a four year vendetta by the MAGA movement to try to sort of get back at Big Tech.” –Adam Thierer, R Street Institute…
R Street’s Adam Thierer pointed out that there’s an appetite “for broadening the mission of the FCC to include issues that weren’t traditionally under its purview,” including Section 230 reform…
R Street’s Adam Thierer believes some new AI guardrails under Trump are possible, but thinks Congress, rather than the agencies, would lead on any new AI-related enactments. Thierer also turned to Trump’s record for ideas, including the executive order he issued right before leaving office on promoting trustworthy AI, which “talked a lot about cost benefit analysis, about utilizing alternative means of governing artificial intelligence, examining burdens…”
Not every expert Tech Policy Press spoke with was supportive of states taking the lead on AI. And the mere existence of a “patchwork” of state AI laws has several interviewees Tech Policy Press spoke to concerned.
- “If everybody’s going to all of a sudden be an AI regulator, that’s going to be really interesting. I’m not sure how that kind of a patchwork of patchworks will work.” –Adam Thierer, R Street Institute…
Artificial intelligence may also bring with it a “paradigmatic shift” in the way society embraces or rejects technology, according to R Street’s Adam Thierer.