The future of AI regulation in the US: will Musk change his approach?
Elon Musk's position on AI regulation aligns more closely with the EU than with the general MAGA narrative. Time will tell whether this stance was principled and continues or whether it was aimed at certain industry players with whom Musk has had disagreements.
Yesterday, Politico wrote about Elon Musk taking a jab at the newest data center infrastructure project led by Open AI, Oracle, MGX, and Japanese investment company SoftBank, which plans to invest $500 billion over the next 4 years:
While some speculate that this occurred solely due to Musk's complicated relationship with OpenAI, differences in approach with Trump's team are somewhat expected in other tech-related topics as well, such as AI regulation.
This week, Donald Trump revoked the AI Executive Order (Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 2023, titled 'Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence').
Although Elon Musk generally advocates for deregulation, AI does not appear to be one of those areas. Musk has long warned about the potential dangers posed by AI and reiterated his support for AI regulation - specifically, the California AI Bill - in August 2024.
Unexpectedly, Musk's position (above) aligns more closely with the EU's than with general MAGA narrative. Time will tell whether this stance was principled and continues or whether it was aimed at certain industry players with whom Musk has had disagreements.
In Europe, discussions about the AI Act's 'Brussels effect' have become more subdued, yet the EU remains committed to continuing transatlantic conversations with the US on harmonized AI rules.
Although highly unlikely, it is important that the US AI Executive Order does not return in an even worse form. Americans can already learn from the EU's experiences - both good and bad - to develop their own solution should the decision to implement regulatory guardrails be made.
