Trump vows to protect free speech by revoking Biden’s executive order on AI

In a campaign speech on Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, former President Donald Trump vowed to cancel President Biden's executive order on artificial intelligence that calls on federal agencies to assess how to better use it in their day-to-day operations. 

In the statement, Trump said, "Just this week, Biden's Homeland Security Secretary even admitted that they are weaponizing artificial intelligence to target American citizens for political speech." 

"He admitted it" he continued. "Well, at least he was honest." 

"When I’m re-elected, I will cancel Biden’s artificial intelligence executive order," Trump added, "and ban the use of AI to censor the speech of American citizens on day one."

On Oct. 30, President Biden signed an executive order titled, "Executive Order the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence." The order says that the federal government would "increase its internal capacity to regulate, govern, and support responsible use of AI to deliver better results for Americans." 

"My Administration will take steps to attract, retain, and develop public service-oriented AI professionals, including from underserved communities, across disciplines — including technology, policy, managerial, procurement, regulatory, ethical, governance, and legal fields — and ease AI professionals’ path into the Federal Government to help harness and govern AI," the statement said. 

AI.gove states, "The United States stands to benefit significantly from harnessing the opportunities of AI to improve government services." It claims that the feds are "using AI to better serve Americans, across use cases in healthcare, transportation, the environment, and benefits delivery."

In response to the executive order, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement: "The unprecedented speed of AI’s development and adoption presents significant risks we must quickly mitigate, along with opportunities to advance and improve our work on behalf of the American people."

He added: "DHS is already deploying AI responsibly to achieve our missions, and this Executive Order will build on that leadership. In April 2023, I established the Department’s first AI Task Force to drive specific applications of AI and, since then, we have quickly developed guidance on the acquisition and use of AI technology and the responsible use of face recognition technologies."