What he meant, as he went on to make clear, was not only should safety considerations be subordinated to innovation but that the Trump administration would double down on US leadership across the entire artificial intelligence stack – from semiconductors and algorithms to computing power and applications. AI opportunities, as it turns out, should be subject to “America first”.
Vance’s speech should come as no surprise. The US desire to ensure technological primacy has been a feature of different administrations, marked by an increasingly antagonistic stance against China that is threatening to draw in Southeast Asian countries that are loath to choosing sides amid geopolitical polarisation. With countries in the region placing big bets on the AI value chain for economic growth and digital transformation strategies, two areas of concern stand out.
First, Washington’s deprioritisation of AI safety in favour of innovation and free speech reveals a troubling picture of trivialising harm in many parts of the world, including Southeast Asia, which has had painful experiences with unbridled misinformation and disinformation before.
The assumption that innovation is inherently beneficial begs the question of whom innovation is supposed to benefit, when most of the world lags in AI capacity and is still consigned to being users of tech designed by Silicon Valley and rules set by Washington.
AI innovation built on the data and resources of others, particularly the global majority, is not only extractive but ultimately, unsafe for the entire ecosystem. The Silicon Valley mantra of “move fast and break things”, in the name of innovation, has already resulted in digital sweatshops, surveilled gig workers and ecological ruptures that include disturbing trends in energy and water consumption, electronic waste and public health concerns.
