Stacking the Deck
Yesterday the President signed another Executive Order titled “PROMOTING THE EXPORT OF THE AMERICAN AI TECHNOLOGY STACK”, different from the “PREVENTING WOKE AI IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT” that the media seems to have focused on. The “woke” order is socio-political while the “promotion” order is all business, which is where we focus, letting the media try to sort out the implications of the “woke” order.
The “promotion” order begins the process of setting up a framework where the federal government will take part in promoting and exporting US AI technology, standards, and governance through the creation of an American AI Export Program, administered and financed through the Department of Commerce. To establish the program, industry-led groups will submit proposals that detail AI ‘packages’ that can be marketed to other countries. The packages should include:
Unfortunately the EO does not contain any details such as export targets, financing budgets, and any real specifics about how the program will operate, leaving those details up to the offices of the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State. No mention of where actual funding will come from, although we believe at least the operational side will come from the Commerce budget (unconfirmed).
On an overall basis, the idea of promoting US AI technology is good, but we wonder why the federal government needs to be involved given the vast sums available to the AI community from the investment community (public & private). We also wonder how and by who the proposed ‘packages’ will be evaluated. Additionally the lack of clarity as to who or what companies or groups will be putting together the proposed packages and the details on how final decisions will be made leaves us with the feeling that the project is open to side deals, PAC contributions, and ‘retirement funding’ for those in charge.
No doubt there will be something in this program for Musk-owned xAI (pvt) and the others who have made the required ring-kiss trip to Mar-a-Lago, along with those who have already paid homage, as we expect there will be little public oversite on this program. We are a bit negative here as the program seems to have little focus on public transparency and AI safeguards, and more on generating financial gain for those who are able to garner favor with the powers that be, but maybe its just years of watching technology programs slip into the Black Hole of federal government, never to be heard from again unless Ronan Farrow finds a string to pull and there is something on the other end that has a fishy smaell.
The “promotion” order begins the process of setting up a framework where the federal government will take part in promoting and exporting US AI technology, standards, and governance through the creation of an American AI Export Program, administered and financed through the Department of Commerce. To establish the program, industry-led groups will submit proposals that detail AI ‘packages’ that can be marketed to other countries. The packages should include:
- AI-Optimized Hardware
- Data Systems
- AI Models
- Security Protocols
- Specific AI Applications
- Direct loans
- Loan Guarantees
- Equity Investments
- Co-financing
- Political Risk Insurance
- Credit
Unfortunately the EO does not contain any details such as export targets, financing budgets, and any real specifics about how the program will operate, leaving those details up to the offices of the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State. No mention of where actual funding will come from, although we believe at least the operational side will come from the Commerce budget (unconfirmed).
On an overall basis, the idea of promoting US AI technology is good, but we wonder why the federal government needs to be involved given the vast sums available to the AI community from the investment community (public & private). We also wonder how and by who the proposed ‘packages’ will be evaluated. Additionally the lack of clarity as to who or what companies or groups will be putting together the proposed packages and the details on how final decisions will be made leaves us with the feeling that the project is open to side deals, PAC contributions, and ‘retirement funding’ for those in charge.
No doubt there will be something in this program for Musk-owned xAI (pvt) and the others who have made the required ring-kiss trip to Mar-a-Lago, along with those who have already paid homage, as we expect there will be little public oversite on this program. We are a bit negative here as the program seems to have little focus on public transparency and AI safeguards, and more on generating financial gain for those who are able to garner favor with the powers that be, but maybe its just years of watching technology programs slip into the Black Hole of federal government, never to be heard from again unless Ronan Farrow finds a string to pull and there is something on the other end that has a fishy smaell.
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