The United States President is expected to sign an executive order asking federal government agencies to dedicate more resources and investment into research, promotion and training on artificial intelligence (AI). Reuters brought this interesting piece of news to our attention in their article, “Trump administration unveils order to prioritize and promote AI.”

What does this mean for emerging technologies? Under the American AI Initiative, the administration will direct agencies to prioritize AI investments in research and development, increase access to federal data and models for that research and prepare workers to adapt to the era of AI.

Given that there was no specific funding announced for the initiative, essentially the initiative aims to make sure the United States keeps its research and development advantage in AI and related areas, such as advanced manufacturing and quantum computing. The key word is asking. With no budget or accountability, is this just a nod towards the technology? With some ethical concerns about control, privacy, and cybersecurity, this might be worth watching.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.