The fight on the right over AI

The White House’s approach to AI development has been marked by a consistent opposition to almost any significant regulation of the tech industry. Led for many months by AI czar David Sacks, the White House believes that any policy that might restrict AI companies’ ability to grow — and grow quickly — is handing a consequential advantage to China. That attitude has led to a divide within the Republican Party on the issue of AI development, which is now widening and deepening. Sacks, who just had his time as a special government employee expire, will remain a critical advisor to President Donald Trump on artificial intelligence, co-chairing a new “Council of Advisors on Science and Technology” that includes a veritable who’s who of the tech elite: Google’s Sergey Brin, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, a16z’s Marc Andreessen, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Yet there’s also an increasingly large, mostly socially conservative faction that is deeply suspicious of these executives and the vision of the tech-aligned wing of the party, which believes the U.S. needs to pursue a relaxed regulatory environment to stimulate growth and compete with AI development in other countries. This socially conservative bloc is more animated about how AI can hurt Americans, ranging from existential risk concerns to worries about how chatbots are interacting with children. They have never felt comfortable with the idea of working with tech executives whom they’ve regarded with distrust since the Obama era.