The US is Finally Moving Towards an AI Strategy

Many have called on Washington to develop a national strategy for artificial intelligence (AI). On Feb. 11, the Trump administration showed that it was listening. President Trump issued an executive order to establish the “American AI Initiative,” which seeks to improve AI R&D, workforce development, and international engagement. In an op-ed for The Hill, Daniel Castro and Joshua New write that, while the American AI Initiative is a welcome step towards boosting U.S. competitiveness in AI, it does not go far enough. Without more substantial efforts from the Trump administration and Congress, the United States will struggle to compete with other countries that have developed aggressive national AI strategies, and the economy will be worse off for it.

Policymakers on both sides of the aisle should start building on this by crafting a more detailed national AI strategy designed to maximize the social and economic value of AI. Many other countries have already recognized supporting AI as a major policy priority and have enacted state-level AI strategies of their own to improve their technological competitiveness. It is time for policymakers in the United States to do the same.