How America Can Lead the AI Revolution
In July, the Trump Administration published “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” a blueprint for American leadership in the defining technological endeavor of the 21st century. President Trump and key advisors like David Sacks and Michael Kratsios are setting the regulatory stage to ensure America dominates in AI, and that the government supports innovation and channels use cases to ends that serve the American people.
The Plan acknowledges that the administration’s aggressive embrace of AI leadership is not without risk. From labor to culture to national security, AI will fundamentally alter the landscape, introducing vast potential for good but also pitfalls that must be avoided. Above all, America’s adoption of AI must preserve the character of our people and the integrity of our economy, giving Americans confidence in the prospects of a future where AI propels us to untold levels of national greatness.
American conservatives have a generational opportunity to harness a critical technology. If the Trump Administration fails to preserve the common good in the face of enticing profit and progress, future generations will not be able to stop the disastrous consequences AI could unleash. Awareness of this tension is critical, and it is incumbent upon the conservative movement to ensure that future doesn’t come to pass.
The way forward begins with protecting the sanctity of the human person. Smartphones have already changed brain chemistry and the trajectory of childhood development. Due to the sizable risks introduced by AI that only deepen preexisting issues, it should not enjoy unlimited access on the market. Conservatives rightly assign value to a baby in the womb—and they should assign that same value to the natural character of the mind, avoiding augmentation for its own sake.
Perhaps the next AI domino to fall is its impact on labor and employment, especially entry- to mid-level white-collar jobs. AI agents already accomplish much of what first-year associate attorneys or young CPAs can do, and it is likely only a matter of time before humans no longer fill these roles. The AI Action Plan rightly highlights the importance of preserving work, but it begs the question of how this will take place and what a transition looks like between the rise of AI employment and the next job market.
The future of cultural artifacts is less precise but no less significant for preserving beauty and aesthetics. Any internet user can see the widespread proliferation of automatically generated video and audio content. As the months pass, it is harder to delineate between human and computer-sourced creation. Conservatives must lead a reckoning on this front. Can there be a future if the spark of the human mind is extinguished? To many, the risk of over-regulation is well worth preserving a culture that bears the distinct marks of humanity. Ignoring this reality will be a point of no return. Due consideration is needed to avoid an accidental future no one wants.
Conservatives must also understand the necessity of controlling the spaces, people, and institutions that educate and form our children. AI schools offer the chance to harness the convergence of school choice, technological opportunity, and a lack of trust in public education. America should not, however, be so eager to trade a statist monolith for a technological one. Like an untested vaccine, the initial promise of AI should not be mistaken for permanent well-being. Our schools should return to intimate, personalized, and successful eras—not simply ones defined by screen time and digitization.
The AI Action Plan maturely identifies these and other risks to the integrity of the republic. But the drive for innovation and progress still risks outpacing prudent and measured protections for the institutions we hold dear.
If conservatives do not actively confront the risks of AI, Democrats are ready with politically expedient solutions that many voters could see as being responsive to their concerns.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, with the amplification of former President Obama, released a plan to manage the risks and opportunities associated with AI. Through the typical liberal establishment euphemisms and vagaries, Senator Kelly offers concrete assistance for displaced American workers in the form of subsidies to those who inevitably suffer at the hands of AI development. But other than this cynical ploy of calling to adopt a universal basic income-like program, Senator Kelly speaks directly to reasonable questions of human dignity. This is deliberate. Conservatives must therefore confront the anxieties voters associate with the risks AI poses to economic viability and the human condition.
Artificial intelligence will soon shape not only markets or militaries, but also the very meaning of work, culture, and human dignity in America. The Trump Administration’s Action Plan sets the stage for global leadership. But it is up to the conservative movement to decide whether such leadership will be animated by prudence or consumed by profit. To safeguard the common good, conservatives must make sure that the AI revolution strengthens families, preserves meaningful work, and safeguards human creativity. If we fail to anchor AI to the sanctity of the human person and the character of the republic, we risk a future where America leads in tech but loses its soul.
The post How America Can Lead the AI Revolution appeared first on The American Mind.