The Accelerationist Age of American AI
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Today on the AI Daily Brief, the extremely pointed speech from Vice President J.D. Vance, who was effectively discussing an age of American AI. The AI Daily Brief is a daily podcast and video about the most important news and discussions in AI. To join the conversation, follow the Discord link in our show notes. ♪

Hello, friends. Quick note before we dive into today's episode. I was racing to do this this morning before I had to travel down to New York for a couple of appointments. But the script for the second time in two days has crashed, losing an entire part of the episode. In this case, it was the headlines. And so unfortunately for today's episode, I'm going to have to go live without the headlines. We will be back with a normal format tomorrow and apologize for the inconvenience. But the main topic is really interesting, so at least there's that.

Anyways, without any further ado, let's talk about the accelerationist age of American AI. Welcome back to the AI Daily Brief. Today, we are talking about the AI Action Summit in Paris, and specifically, the extremely pointed speech from Vice President J.D. Vance. Now, by way of background, the conference is being used as a way to reset the EU stance on AI in recognition that they're falling behind compared to the US and China.

On the opening day, 60 European companies and startups signed the EU AI Champions Initiative, which seeks to establish the continent as a leader in AI. Comments from the summit seem to tacitly accept that the EU's regulation-first approach has hampered adoption in the corporate sector.

Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said, The EU AI Champions Initiative comes at a pivotal moment for corporate leaders to position Europe at the forefront of AI and transform our economy. The time for debate and small-scale pilots is over. It is now crucial for European policymakers, industry leaders, and startups to fully harness AI's potential.

Genetsu Furstenberg, managing director of VC firm General Catalyst, who are hosting the event, drew attention to the current difficulty with compliance. She pointed out that there are conflicts between regulations in different industries, three different regulators with jurisdiction, and very little standardization in how AI is dealt with. When asked if the Champions Initiative is intended as a criticism of the EU parliament, Furstenberg said, they have given us a great signal that they want to lean in and want to engage. A lot of the conflict that we're currently experiencing is not intended. So

So we're bringing the regulators together with the people that are actually in the field. And there does seem to be some amount of substance happening there as well. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a massive 109 billion euro investment package for the French AI ecosystem to be deployed over the next few years. He sold the plan as the French version of Project Stargate, noting that the spending was in direct proportion when adjusted for population. France Makes Total Sense is a home for this sort of large-scale data project given that it has 18 nuclear power plants and is a net exporter of electricity to the rest of the continent.

Macron also said, for me, this summit is not just the announcement of a lot of investment in France. It's a wake-up call for European strategy. He added, this will be a unique opportunity for Europe to accelerate, to simplify our regulations, to deepen the single market, and to invest as well in computing capacities. So that was where we were coming into yesterday morning. But then was US Vice President J.D. Vance, who was effectively discussing an age of American AI.

he made very clear from the first line where he was going to fall in this conversation. He opened by stating, I'm not here to talk about AI safety. I'm here to talk about AI opportunity.

He continued, "Our administration believes that AI will have countless revolutionary applications. To restrict its development now would not only unfairly benefit incumbents in the space, it would mean paralyzing one of the most promising technologies we've seen in generations." Pence's speech had four main points. The first was that the administration would ensure that US AI continues to be the gold standard and partner of choice worldwide.

Second, the administration's belief that, quote, excessive regulation could kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off. Third, the conviction that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that USAI will not be co-opted as a tool for authoritarian censorship. And fourth, that the administration will maintain a pro-worker growth path for AI adoption.

Vance said, AI, I really believe, will facilitate and make people more productive. It's not going to replace human beings. It will never replace human beings. I think too many of the leaders in the AI industry, when they talk about this fear of replacing workers, I think they really missed the point. AI, we believe, is going to make us more productive, more prosperous, and more free.

Laying out the intentions of the administration loud and clear, Vance continued, "...the United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way. The U.S. possesses all components across the full AI stack, including advanced semiconductor design, frontier algorithms, and, of course, transformational applications. To safeguard America's advantage, the Trump administration will ensure that the most powerful AI systems are built in the U.S. with American-designed and manufactured chips."

Extending a highly conditional olive branch to the assembled global leaders, he said, "Just because we're the leader doesn't mean we want to or need to go it alone, of course. Let me be emphatic about this point. America wants to partner with all of you. We want to embark on the AI revolution before us with the spirit of openness and collaboration. But to create that kind of trust, we need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it. We need our European friends in particular to look at this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.

And this was a really key point, basically. Vance echoed many of the other conversations happening at this event that basically argue that Europe is shooting itself in the foot. Bringing it back to America, Vance explained that the Trump executive order seeks to establish a level playing field for big tech and little, while ensuring that all Americans can benefit from the technology. He continued, we invite your countries to work with us and follow that model if it makes sense for your nations. However, the Trump administration is troubled that some foreign governments are considering tightening the screws on US tech companies with international footprints.

America cannot and will not accept that, and we think it's a terrible mistake, not just for the U.S., but for your own countries. Vance referenced censorship of information access to adults, massive compliance costs, and the EU's notorious fines against big tech firms as the major issues. Touching on energy, Vance said, "...the AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety. It will be won by building, from reliable power plants to the manufacturing facilities that can produce the chips of the future."

I mean, this speech just absolutely declared the AI safety era dead and gone, pronounced the U.S. the leader of the acceleration, and invited U.S.'s friends and allies to join and effectively fuel the ACC.

Vance closed by comparing AI to Lafayette's Revolutionary Sabre, which he viewed the previous night. He said, "...it got me thinking of France and my own country and the beautiful civilization that we've built together with weapons like that saber, weapons that are dangerous in the wrong hands but are incredible tools for liberty and prosperity in the right hands. If we choose the wrong approach on other things that could be considered dangerous, things like AI, and choose to hold ourselves back, it will alter not only our GDP or the stock market, but the very future of the project that Lafayette and the American founders set off to create."

This doesn't mean that all concerns about safety go out the window, but focus matters. And we must focus now on the opportunity to catch lightning in a bottle, unleash our most brilliant innovators, and use AI to improve the well-being of our nations and their peoples. And boy, were there not a lot of folks who had a banal take about this speech. On the one hand was absolute rapture. Based Beth Jezos wrote, this may be the most EACC speech of all time, unfathomably based.

European entrepreneur Maria Schrober wrote, Catherine Boyle, who focuses on American dynamism at A16Z, said,

Then on the other side was this take represented by A.L., a girl who wrote, We're all dead. I'm a transhumanist. I love tech. I desperately want aligned AI. But at our current stage of development, this is building the equivalent of a planet-sized nuke. The reason is boring and complicated and technical, so mid-twits in power don't understand the danger.

So clearly two very different types of reaction to the same speech.

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During her speech, EU President Ursula von der Leyen framed the new AI law as being more about consistency rather than restriction. She said, "...this is the purpose of the AI Act to provide for one single set of safe rules across the European Union, instead of 27 different national regulations and safeties in the interest of business." Still, she recognized the issue, adding, "...at the same time, I know we have to make it easier and we have to cut red tape, and we will."

von der Leyen also announced massive investment in AI data centers, unveiling a 50 billion euro contribution to the 150 billion euro in committed spending from leading European firms. She said, "We want Europe to be one of the leading AI continents. And this means embracing a way of life where AI is everywhere. Too often I hear that Europe is late to the race where the United States and China have already gotten ahead. I disagree because the AI race is far from being over."

If you're European, even if you don't buy that, it is such a massive sea change in the tone of conversation that you have to be at least a little bit optimistic.

Now, one of the big intended outcomes of the Paris summit was to sign a joint declaration on AI. Not a treaty, of course, but rather a statement on shared principles on AI across the democratic nations. When a draft declaration was leaked late last week, it appeared to please approximately no one. Journalist Shaquille Hesham commented on it, it barely mentions AI risks and completely fails to follow up on previous summit commitments. Cambridge researcher Herbie Bradley said, it says effectively nothing except for platitudes.

It doesn't contain anything concrete around either technical AI research or government testing of AI systems. Max Tegmark, MIT professor and the president of the Future of Life Institute wrote, the Paris AI Summit's draft declaration that's leaked on X seems optimized to antagonize both the US government with focus on diversity, gender, and disinformation, and the UK government completely ignoring the scientific and political consensus around risks from smarter than human AI systems that was agreed at the Bletchley Park Summit. Countries shouldn't sign this because it totally ignores the science.

And indeed, both the US and the UK declined to sign the declaration. While the statement itself was mostly empty symbolism, refusal to sign it was also a deeply symbolic gesture.

Clearly, this represents a symbolic break from the EU on AI policy. J.D. Vance has firmly declared that the U.S. is primarily concerned with producing the best AI technology rather than the safest. The U.S., according to that speech, is no longer deferring to speculative AI safety concerns or dealing with slow-moving international regulations. It is focusing on moving fast to compete with China, and in that pursuit, has declared that allied nations are welcome to tag along but no longer have a place in setting the agenda.

Following the events on Tuesday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amadei felt compelled to write a blog post to present his views. He referred to the Paris summit as a missed opportunity, stating that, quote, greater focus and urgency is needed on several topics given the pace at which the technology is progressing. He highlighted three key issues to tackle at the next AI summit. First, ensuring that democracies lead in AI. Second, actually dealing with growing security risks. And third, developing a plan to deal with the economic disruption of AI.

Now, one nuance of Amode's blog post is that this was not a call to slow down when it came to development. It wasn't a contradiction of anything that J.D. Vance said. Instead, it's almost more of a comparable haste in policymaking around it. For example, if you look at this third bucket, dealing with the economic fallout, he's not saying we should slow down to deal with it. He's saying that policy should be developed in parallel and at the same speed.

Overall, there are very different opinions around AI right now. Professor Kate Crawford wrote, "The AI summit ends in rupture. AI accelerationists want pure expansion, more capital, energy, private infrastructure, no guardrails. Public interest camp supports labor, sustainability, shared data, safety, and oversight. The gap never looked wider. AI is in its empire era." That may be the case, but when it comes to Western policymakers right now, there is definitely a drag to the accelerationist side that's happening in a big way.

Interesting phenomenon to continue to watch, but that is going to do it for today's AI Daily Brief. Appreciate you listening or watching as always. And until next time, peace.