National Review Online
Thursday, February 13, 2025
‘Artificial intelligence is, we believe, going to
make us more productive, more prosperous, and more free.” So proclaimed Vice
President JD Vance at his first foreign speech, given to an AI forum conducted
jointly by the French and Indian governments.
He outlined the reality that America is the current
leader in AI and intends to remain so. He said the Trump administration’s view
is that AI is good for economic growth, for worker productivity, and for
discovering breakthrough tech, in not only the world of “bits” but the physical
world as well, in medicine and manufacturing. He outlined broad principles that
would guide America’s approach to AI tech. We will invest aggressively, allow
development liberally, and prevent it from being used as a tool for censorship.
But he did not stop there. Vance’s speech puts the
American government’s approval behind a global sea change in tech and
regulation that is already under way. From 2016, Silicon Valley had given in to
the European view that the digital world needed political guidance and
censorship, to prevent outcomes like Trump’s first election and Brexit. By
2020, many tech companies acted like arms of the ruling class, enforcing speech
codes on racial matters and urging public conformity to expert opinion on the
pandemic. This led to embarrassment and alienation from their own customers. It
also contributed to demand for Donald Trump’s reelection. After the 2024
result, many tech executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, have vowed to return
their companies to their American roots, including free speech and expression.
Vance warned against governments looking to “tighten the
screws” on U.S. tech companies. And he called out a relatively new piece of
legislation, the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), with its onerously censorial
approach to so-called misinformation, for special criticism. In truth, the EU,
resentful of American high-tech success, has already been using its rules to
periodically squeeze American tech companies for billions of dollars. It’s
clear that the DSA will also be abused, but the objective will be more
political rather than financial and will be directed at social media. The law’s
wording, the potentially draconian fines payable for breach of its provisions,
and some public statements by current and former Brussels officials make it
obvious that a key purpose of the legislation is to bully social media
companies with platforms that enjoy a large following in the EU into acting as
public censors and reputation management for European governments trying to
head off their domestic populist and conservative critics. Vance emphasized
that this was no longer acceptable.
“Let me be emphatic. America wants to partner with all of
you,” he said. “But to create that kind of trust, we need international
regulatory regimes that fosters the creation of AI technology, rather than
strangles it. And we need our European friends in particular to look to this
new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.” Vance correctly warned
that excessive regulation would hamper development of potentially
transformative technology, while rewarding the handful of incumbent players in
the space. The wary look on the face of EU Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen as she began to realize where Vance was headed was telling.
Overall, this was a welcome debut on the global stage for
the vice president. His energetic and intellectually supple performance was a
contrast with his predecessor in the office. The fundamental optimism of the
administration about AI is also a good fit with an America that aspires to
remain the premier tech and economic power in another American century.
The triumphs of American science and commerce will serve
our interests and our values, wherever our enterprises take us.
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