Big Tech Always Gets Its Way With This White House: Dave Lee

Is the White House’s artificial intelligence policy America First or simply Silicon Valley First? After this week, I’m leaning sharply towards the latter. It’s surely the only way to reconcile Washington’s conflicting policy choices, where China is made a useful bogeyman until Big Tech is interested in selling Beijing its wares.

China was prominent this week in White House AI czar David Sacks’ defense of the administration’s “One Rulebook for AI,” which aims to run roughshod over states’ rights. The move is necessary to not “stymie innovation” and let China “race ahead,” he argued. Never mind that it’s also an effort to circumvent ...