The Trump administration’s plans for an executive order regulating artificial intelligence were put on hold this week after some of the tech industry’s biggest players, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and venture capitalist David Sacks, persuaded the White House to call it off, according to people familiar with the matter.
The push from industry was successful, these people said, because Musk and others were able to appeal to the accelerationist crowd, including officials at the National Economic Council and staffers in the vice president’s office.
The executive order would have created some oversight for powerful new AI models, but would not have created an official new licensing regime.
OpenAI supported the executive order, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is making a push to enact regulations at the state level — and, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the White House has given the company a green light to pursue that strategy, despite an earlier executive order threatening states that pass unwelcome AI regulation.
The US is hanging on to a tenuous lead in AI over China, which is playing catch-up as it attempts to eliminate its dependence on the West for advanced chips. Accelerationists argue regulation could hamstring the US in its race with China.
The tech industry fears that regulations specifically targeting AI could derail momentum for the industry at a time when supply chain shortages and slow-moving energy projects are already creating some headwinds.
AI safety advocates say regulations are needed to ensure AI does not become so powerful that it threatens humanity. Some also fear AI could cripple the economy by eliminating the need for human labor.