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March 7, 2025

Design Mandate Proposals Threaten American AI Leadership

Scholars often cite the 1984 Betamax case as a pivotal moment in the development of modern American tech policy. The entertainment industry sought to prohibit Sony from selling its videocassette recorder, because it could be—and largely was—used by consumers for copyright infringement. But the Court declined, finding that the device was “capable of substantial noninfringing…

March 6, 2025

Like Silicon from Clay: A Book Event with Michael M. Rosen

Event Summary On March 4, AEI’s Matthew Continetti and Michael M. Rosen gathered to discuss Mr. Rosen’s new book, Like Silicon from Clay: What Ancient Jewish Wisdom Can Teach Us About AI. The conversation began by exploring centuries-old Jewish legends of golems, dybbuks, and maggids, delving into their humanlike characteristics. Mr. Rosen then transitioned to…

March 3, 2025

WEIRD? Institutions and Consumers’ Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in 31 Countries

A survey of perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in 31 countries in 2023 yields significantly less positive perceptions of the new technology in developed western economies than in emerging and non-western economies. This could reflect citizens in non-Western countries perceiving machines (computers) and algorithms differently from those in Western countries, or that a more positive outlook…

February 28, 2025

Connecting the Dots on the Chips

Recent posts by fellow AEI scholars Klon Kitchen and Claude Barfield separately highlighted two important issues that must be considered together if the United States is to truly benefit from—and lead—the inevitable revolution driven by artificial intelligence technologies. Klon Kitchen articulately laid out the argument that the Trump Administration vision for AI as a pillar of…

February 26, 2025

This Silent Plane Just Made History

Two weeks ago, Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator plane made history when it broke the sound barrier over the continental United States, reaching 750 miles per hour (Mach 1.12) near Barstow, California. You might be wondering why this is news. Since Chuck Yeager’s first sonic boom in 1947, thousands of military aircraft have broken the sound barrier. Even…

February 25, 2025

Trump as Information Gatekeeper: Controlling Access, Controlling Narratives

President Donald Trump increasingly is playing the role of information gatekeeper, striving to control access to venues—technological and physical—where important expressive activities occur. By dictating access on his terms, Trump seeks to ensure that narratives serving his agenda can flourish, while speakers––for example, Associated Press and broadcast journalists––who don’t amplify it are punished. In doing…

February 24, 2025

AI and American Dynamism

Last year, I published a report, The Age of Uncertainty, on the challenges in understanding and estimating the job and skill impacts of artificial intelligence. One of the big problems was how quickly expert estimates become outdated, not due to any fault on the part of the experts, but because of how rapidly AI is evolving….

February 21, 2025

Haste Controls Waste! A Theory of Reform

I’m intensely ambivalent about fast-moving events in Washington, DC, where President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a joint venture with Elon Musk, is causing consternation. Whether part of a purposeful strategy or not, the administration is “flooding the zone” with activity, producing talk of “constitutional crisis” from critics who deplore loose talk from the…

February 20, 2025

Why Cutting Basic Science Funding May Amount to Economic Unilateral Disarmament

Earlier this month, Eric Berger of Ars Technica reported that the White Houses’ first budget request of Donald Trump’s second term could be a fiscal reckoning for America’s government scientific enterprise. The National Science Foundation, a cornerstone of the country’s research infrastructure with its annual $9 billion purse, might face particularly savage cuts. According to Berger, Intelligence…

February 19, 2025

Will the Department of Justice Break the Internet?

There were many contradictions in antitrust enforcement under Biden. But what if Trump’s administration follows the same path? In a striking irony, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust case against Google, which was decided last summer, may reduce competition—both in search and in access to the World Wide Web. The DOJ’s proposed remedies would stifle…