Artificial intelligence is a hot topic for voters. What does the election mean for AI?

Artificial intelligence is everywhere: it’s in phones, computers, software, even sunglasses. And with the technology continuing to proliferate into the lives of everyday Americans, it has become a big talking point of the 2024 U.S. presidential election: for the pitfalls, the possibilities, the perils and the promise.

AI euphoria

Many in the tech industry feel AI has the potential to radically reshape both the economy and humanity itself. Last month, SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY) Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said he thought Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) was “undervalued” on the basis that “hundreds of billions of dollars” will be needed to achieve artificial superintelligence.

Son has made bombastic statements in the past, going so far as to say that artificial superintelligence is “something that wants you to be happy.” He’s also said general artificial intelligence will top the collective intelligence of humanity and come within the next 10 years.

These types of comments are echoed throughout the industry, and the money is there to back it up.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (META) and Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) are set to spend more than $200B this year going after AI, with more spending to come in 2025, according to executives at each company.

AI’s wet blanket

But while the tech industry — and others — are enamored with AI’s potential, the majority of Americans from both parties are concerned about its impact.

An August 2023 poll conducted by Axios showed that 62% of respondents said they are “somewhat concerned” or “mostly concerned” about AI.

Other data (such as this set compiled by Gallup) finds similar percentages showcasing their concerns about the impact of AI on daily lives. Even Fortune 500 companies have expressed concern about AI, with more than half of the group mentioning the topic as a risk factor.

Trump and Harris in sync?

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump may not agree on much, but it appears the two presidential candidates share some similarities on their AI-related concerns.

Trump has in the past called AI “dangerous,” but he has said little on how he would regulate it, other than to repeal President Biden’s executive order from October 2023 regarding AI regulation. He said the order “hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Left-wing ideas on the development of this technology.” In its place, he would replace it with something that “supports AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.”

There was considerable backlash towards Biden’s executive order over concerns that it might impact innovation. When Trump was President, he signed an executive order in 2019 promoting artificial intelligence, both to help spur innovation and regulate it.

A number of companies, including OpenAI, considered by some to be the poster boy for generative AI, have come in support of various pieces of legislation regulating AI.

Vice President Harris also briefly mentions AI on her website, telling people she “will invest in the competitive advantages that make America the strongest nation on Earth … and will work to ensure America remains a leader in the industries of the future, from semiconductors to clean energy to artificial intelligence.”

Harris, who served as a Senator from California and has ties to Silicon Valley, is trying to balance the idea of outpacing other countries and keeping American citizens safe, Tony West, Harris’ brother-in-law, a campaign adviser and chief legal officer of Uber (UBER) said in August.

“She has always come at this issue from the conviction that the United States has to maintain its global competitiveness when it comes to AI and other emerging technologies,” West said.

West added Harris is also “concerned about these calls that your grandmother might be getting where a person sounds like you, but it’s not you, and anybody can pick up an app and basically create these kinds of deepfakes. She wants to make sure that we’re paying attention to how we prevent that and how we protect consumers.”

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