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Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
From tech podcasts to policy: Trump's new AI plan leans heavily on Silicon Valley industry ideas
An artificial intelligence agenda that started coalescing on the podcasts of Silicon Valley billionaires is now being forged into U.S. policy as President Donald Trump leans on the ideas of the tech figures who backed his election campaign. Trump on Wednesday is planning to reveal an 'AI Action Plan' he ordered after returning to the White House in January. He gave his tech advisers six months to come up with new AI policies after revoking President Joe Biden's signature AI guardrails on his first day in office. The unveiling is co-hosted by the bipartisan Hill and Valley Forum and the All-In Podcast, a business and technology show hosted by four tech investors and entrepreneurs who include Trump's AI czar, David Sacks. The plan and related executive orders are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches. That includes accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings that are needed to form and run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday's event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year. Blocking 'woke AI' from tech contractors Countering the liberal bias they see in AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google's Gemini has long been a rallying point for the tech industry's loudest Trump backers. Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now Trump's top AI adviser, has been criticizing 'woke AI' for more than a year, fueled by Google's February 2024 rollout of an AI image generator that, when asked to show an American Founding Father, created pictures of Black, Latino and Native American men. 'The AI's incapable of giving you accurate answers because it's been so programmed with diversity and inclusion,' Sacks said at the time. Google quickly fixed its tool, but the 'Black George Washington' moment remained a parable for the problem of AI's perceived political bias, taken up by X owner Elon Musk, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Vice President JD Vance and Republican lawmakers. The administration's latest push against 'woke AI' comes a week after the Pentagon announced new $200 million contracts with four leading AI companies, including Google, to address 'critical national security challenges.' Also receiving one of the contracts was Musk's xAI, which has been pitched as an alternative to 'woke AI' companies. The company has faced its own challenges: Earlier this month, xAI had to scramble to remove posts made by its Grok chatbot that made antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler. Streamlining AI data center permits Trump has paired AI's need for huge amounts of electricity with his own push to tap into U.S. energy sources, including gas, coal and nuclear. 'Everything we aspire to and hope for means the demand and supply of energy in America has to go up,' said Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a video posted Tuesday. Many tech giants are already well on their way toward building new data centers in the U.S. and around the world. OpenAI announced this week that it has switched on the first phase of a massive data center complex in Abilene, Texas, part of an Oracle-backed project known as Stargate that Trump promoted earlier this year. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and xAI also have major projects underway. The tech industry has pushed for easier permitting rules to get their computing facilities connected to power, but the AI building boom has also contributed to spiking demand for fossil fuel production that will contribute to global warming. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the world's major tech firms to power data centers completely with renewables by 2030. 'A typical AI data center eats up as much electricity as 100,000 homes,' Guterres said. 'By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today.' A new approach to AI exports? It's long been White House policy under Republican and Democratic administrations to curtail certain technology exports to China and other adversaries on national security grounds. But much of the tech industry argued that Biden went too far at the end of his term in trying to restrict the exports of specialized AI computer chips to more than 100 other countries, including close allies. Part of the Biden administration's motivation was to stop China from acquiring coveted AI chips in third-party locations such as Southeast Asia or the Middle East, but critics said the measures would end up encouraging more countries to turn to China's fast-growing AI industry instead of the U.S. as their technology supplier. It remains to be seen how the Trump administration aims to accelerate the export of U.S.-made AI technologies while countering China's AI ambitions. California chipmakers Nvidia and AMD both announced last week that they won approval from the Trump administration to sell to China some of their advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence. AMD CEO Lisa Su is among the guests planning to attend Trump's event Wednesday. Who benefits from Trump's AI action plan There are sharp debates on how to regulate AI, even among the influential venture capitalists who have been debating it on their favorite medium: the podcast. While some Trump backers, particularly Andreessen, have advocated an 'accelerationist' approach that aims to speed up AI advancement with minimal regulation, Sacks has described himself as taking a middle road of techno-realism. 'Technology is going to happen. Trying to stop it is like ordering the tides to stop. If we don't do it, somebody else will,' Sacks said on the All-In podcast. On Tuesday, 95 groups including labor unions, parent groups, environmental justice organizations and privacy advocates signed a resolution opposing Trump's embrace of industry-driven AI policy and calling for a 'People's AI Action Plan' that would 'deliver first and foremost for the American people.' Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which helped lead the effort, said the coalition expects Trump's plan to come 'straight from Big Tech's mouth.' 'Every time we say, 'What about our jobs, our air, water, our children?' they're going to say, 'But what about China?'' she said in a call with reporters Tuesday. She said Americans should reject the White House's argument that the industry is overregulated and fight to preserve 'baseline protections for the public' as AI technology advances. ___ Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report. Matt O'brien And Ali Swenson, The Associated Press
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Asian markets gain, with Japan's Nikkei up more than 3%, lifted by deal on Trump's tariffs
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rallied on Wednesday, with Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index up more than 3% after Japan and the U.S. announced a deal on President Donald Trump's tariffs. The agreement as announced calls for a 15% import duty on goods imported from Japan, apart from certain products such as steel and aluminum that are subject to much higher tariffs. That's down from the 25% Trump had said would kick in on Aug. 1 if a deal was not reached. 'This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,' Trump posted on Truth Social, noting that Japan was also investing 'at my direction' $550 billion into the U.S. He said Japan would 'open' its economy to American autos and rice. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.1% to 25,397.81, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.8% to 3,608.58. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.6% to 8,731.90 and the Kospi in South Korea edged 0.1% higher to 3,172.10. 'President Trump has signed two trade deals this week with the Philippines and Japan which is likely to keep market sentiment propped up despite deals with the likes of the EU and South Korea remaining elusive, for now at least,' Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at Kohle Capital Markets, said in a report. There was a chorus of no comments from the Japanese automakers, despite the latest announcement, including Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Corp. Japanese companies tend to be cautious about their public reactions, and some business officials have privately remarked in off-record comments that they hesitate to say anything because Trump keeps changing his mind. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association also said it had no comment, noting there was no official statement yet. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba welcomed the agreement as beneficial to both sides. Wall Street inched to another record on Tuesday following some mixed profit reports, as General Motors and other big U.S. companies gave updates on how much Trump's tariffs are hurting or helping them. The S&P 500 added 0.1% to the all-time high it had set the day before, closing at 6,309.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 44,502.44. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4% from its own record, to 20,892.68. General Motors dropped 8.1% despite reporting a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected. The automaker said it's still expecting a $4 billion to $5 billion hit to its results in 2025 from higher tariffs and that it hopes to mitigate 30% of that. GM also said it will feel more pain because of tariffs in the current quarter than it did during the spring. That helped to offset big gains for some homebuilders after they reported stronger profits for the spring than Wall Street had forecast. D.R. Horton rallied 17%, and PulteGroup jumped 11.5%. That was even as both companies said homebuyers are continuing to deal with challenging conditions, including higher mortgage rates and an uncertain economy. So far, the U.S. economy seems to be powering through the uncertainty created by Trump's on-and-off tariffs. Many of Trump's proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, and the next big deadline is Aug. 1. Talks are underway on possible trade deals with other countries that could lower the stiff proposals before they kick in. Trump said he reached a trade agreement with the Philippines following a meeting Tuesday at the White House, that will see the U.S. slightly drop its tariff rate for the Philippines without paying import taxes for what it sells there. In the bond market, Treasury yields sank as traders continue to expect the Federal Reserve to wait until September at the earliest to resume cutting interest rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.34% from 4.38% late Monday. In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 14 cents to $65.45 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard added 18 cents to $68.77 a barrel. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched up to 146.80 Japanese yen from 146.64 yen. The euro cost $1.1745, down from $1.1754. ___ AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed. Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Not How Numbers Work': Critics School Trump After Baffling New Claim
President Donald Trump is getting heat on social media for making a claim on Tuesday about cutting drug prices that's essentially mathematically impossible. Trump began promisingly enough with a complaint shared by Democrats and Republicans alike: the high cost of medication, and how much more Americans pay for some medications than patients in other countries. He promised to reduce those costs ― but to a very unlikely degree. 'We're gonna get the drug prices down. Not 30% or 40%, which would be great. Not 50% or 60%. No, we're gonna get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%,' Trump said at a Republican dinner. 'Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.' Critics quickly pointed out the reason those numbers are not thought to be achievable: reducing the price by 100% would make the drugs free. Reducing it by '1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%,' as Trump said, would make the cost negative dollars ― with the drug company essentially paying people to take the medication. Several users asked Grok, the AI chatbot on X, if Trump's numbers made sense. Grok called Trump's claim 'mathematically impossible,' 'hyperbolic and not literal' and 'total bullshit.' But Trump insisted he could use 'a certain talent that I have' to convince pharmaceutical companies that they have no choice but to reduce their prices. Trump also mentioned an executive order he signed in May to invoke 'most-favored nation' status in drug costs, which he says would ensure that drug companies can't charge Americans any more than what they charge patients in other nations. However, the details of that plan remain hazy, and at least one pharmaceutical CEO said discussions with the White House are ongoing and expected to take time. Trump on Tuesday insisted that his order will lead to those price cuts. 'We will have reduced drug prices by 1,000%, by 1,100, 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 700, 600,' he said. 'Not 30 or 40 or 50%, but numbers the likes of which you've never even dreamed of before.' Trump's critics offered some free math lessons: As someone who graduated from first grade, this is not how numbers work. — Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) July 23, 2025 Thank goodness this guy isn't negotiating the percentages we pay in tariffs. — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) July 23, 2025 Quite a trick if he can do it. Are we going into negative numbers where big Pharma pays me to take their drugs? — Dj Omega Mvp (@DjOmegaMVP) July 23, 2025 Hard to imagine this guy was found liable of fraud for making up numbers — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 23, 2025 The economics department at Wharton must be incredibly proud of this man's fundamental understanding of basic math. — Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) July 23, 2025 Cant wait fill my next zpack at cvs and leave with a stack of their money — Ronnie (@Gem_Mint_Cards_) July 23, 2025 Getting paid to take drugs sounds awesome where do I sign up — TCL (@TitleTalkTCL) July 23, 2025 Universal Prescription Income. Your move, Yang — Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) July 23, 2025 What kind of math is this? — Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) July 23, 2025 And people wonder how this idiot bankrupted casinos. — Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) July 23, 2025 Negative drug prices are on the way ! 🤣🇺🇸 — Christopher Schultz (@nalyticsatwork) July 23, 2025 This is the fucking genius. — Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) July 23, 2025 — Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 23, 2025 @realDonaldTrump is out here pitching drug deals like it's Shark Tank for Cartels:'I'm offering insulin for negative $300 and a lifetime supply of bleach injections… but only if you call in the next 15 minutes.'This QVC for crackheads. — Frank C (@FrankC164) July 23, 2025
