What will future AI regulation look like under a new presidential administration?
The Berkeley Research Group found that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s actions on AI have both focused on promoting innovation and safety, the group said during a healthcare policy roundtable Tuesday.
From analyzing Harris’ and Trump’s statements on AI and the work of their respective administrations, BRG found that both the Democratic and the Republican nominees have focused on promoting innovation in AI, are optimistic about AI’s potential and have also zeroed in on safety.
But Trump is likely to diverge from the Biden administration’s policies—at least in name. Trump is likely to repeal President Joe Biden’s October 2023 Executive Order on AI. The Republican ticket’s ties to Silicon Valley may also push it to dismiss some regulatory efforts if they seem to overregulate tech and hinder innovation.
Harris is expected to continue along the same lines the Biden administration has on AI, BRG said. Harris has been the White House’s spokesperson on AI and has worked on obtaining voluntary commitments on AI principles from industry.
The leaders that Harris and Trump would appoint to key agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would determine their administration’s actions on AI, BRG said.
Harris
Amy Worley, BRG managing director and data protection officer, said Harris has been integral in the Biden administration’s approach to AI regulation. The administration has been following the FAVES framework for AI, which stands for fair, appropriate, valid, effective and safe.
Harris worked on obtaining voluntary commitments to those principles from tech leaders Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI. She also helped ink the 28 voluntary commitments from the healthcare industry to HHS on promoting shared ideals on AI. The signatories included payers, AI developers and providers like Allina Health, CVS Health, Mass General Brigham and Sanford Health.
The industry could likely expect a continued commitment to public-private collaboration. The Biden administration has released governing documents on AI. Biden signed an AI executive order in October 2023, which has resulted in a slew of new positions within the executive agencies heading up the AI efforts for their departments.
This includes HHS, which announced it was hiring a chief AI officer in July. Micky Tripathi, the assistant secretary of technology policy and the national coordinator for Health IT, is temporarily serving as HHS’ CAIO.
BRG said Harris has been focused on innovation in AI rather than solely on the harms of AI. Harris commented at the UK AI Safety Summit that the world should “reject the false choice that suggests we can either protect public interest or advance innovation,” BRG quoted.
The Biden administration has also promulgated regulations that improve transparency of AI, advance interoperability and safeguard patients, like HTI-1 and the update to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
“I would expect a Harris administration to try and balance safety and innovation similar to and carrying forward of what's been the case in the Biden administration,” BRG said.
Trump
BRG said it expects a future Trump administration to repeal Biden’s October 2023 executive order; doing so is a “plank in the Republican platform,” BRG said. Republicans have said the order hinders innovation.
If Trump wins the presidency in November, BRG says the administration would likely issue a new executive order on AI that is “rooted in free speech and human flourishing,” BRG quoted from the Trump platform.
BRG analyzed executive orders from Trump’s presidency, which it said focused on innovation, research and development and grant funding. BRG said the Trump administration also focused on safety and risk management, like the Biden administration.
BRG noted that vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance has “deep connections to Silicon Valley.” It predicts Vance and Trump would be concerned about the overregulation of AI for fear of limiting innovation.
But BRG said the healthcare industry will not fully understand the differences in Trump or Harris’ approaches until they appoint the leaders of HHS and other agencies.
“The devil’s in the details on the agency leaders,” BRG said.