US gathers allies to talk AI safety as Trump's vow to undo Biden's AI policy overshadows their work

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal President Joe Biden's signature artificial intelligence policy when he returns to the White House for a second term.

What that actually means for the future of AI technology remains to be seen. Among those who could use some clarity are the government scientists and AI experts from multiple countries gathering in San Francisco this week to deliberate on AI safety measures.

Hosted by the Biden administration, officials from a number of U.S. allies — among them Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the 27-nation European Union — began meeting Wednesday in the California city that's a commercial hub for AI development.

Their agenda addresses topics such as how to better detect and combat a flood of AI-generated deepfakes fueling fraud, harmful impersonation and sexual abuse.

It's the first such meeting since world leaders agreed at an AI summit in South Korea in May to build a network of publicly backed safety institutes to advance research and testing of the technology.

“We have a choice,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to the crowd of officials, academics and private-sector attendees on Wednesday. “We are the ones developing this technology. You are the ones developing this technology. We can decide what it looks like.”

Like other speakers, Raimondo addressed the opportunities and risks of AI — including “the possibility of human extinction” and asked why would we allow that?

"Why would we choose to allow AI to replace us? Why would we choose to allow the deployment of AI that will cause widespread unemployment and societal disruption that goes along with it? Why would we compromise our global security?" she said. "We shouldn’t. In fact, I would argue we have an obligation to keep our eyes at every step wide open to those risks and prevent them from happening. And let's not let our ambition blind us and allow us to sleepwalk into our own undoing."

Hong Yuen Poon, deputy secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information, said that a “helping-one-another mindset is important” between countries when it comes to AI safety, including with “developing countries which may not have the full resources” to study it.

Biden signed a sweeping AI executive order last year and this year formed the new AI Safety Institute at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which is part of the Commerce Department.

Trump promised in his presidential campaign platform to “repeal Joe Biden's dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.”

But he hasn't made clear what about the order he dislikes or what he'd do about the AI Safety Institute. Trump's transition team didn't respond to emails this week seeking comment.

Addressing concerns about slowing down innovation, Raimondo said she wanted to make it clear that the U.S. AI Safety Institute is not a regulator and also “not in the business of stifling innovation.”

“But here’s the thing. Safety is good for innovation. Safety breeds trust. Trust speeds adoption. Adoption leads to more innovation,” she said.

Tech industry groups — backed by companies including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft — are mostly pleased with the AI safety approach of Biden's Commerce Department, which has focused on setting voluntary standards. They have pushed for Congress to preserve the new agency and codify its work into law.

Some experts expect the kind of technical work happening at an old military officers' club at San Francisco's Presidio National Park this week to proceed regardless of who's in charge.

“There’s no reason to believe that we’ll be doing a 180 when it comes to the work of the AI Safety Institute,” said Heather West, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. Behind the rhetoric, she said there's already been overlap.

Trump didn’t spend much time talking about AI during his four years as president, though in 2019 he became the first to sign an executive order about AI. It directed federal agencies to prioritize research and development in the field.

Before that, tech experts were pushing the Trump-era White House for a stronger AI strategy to match what other countries were pursuing. Trump in the waning weeks of his administration signed an executive order promoting the use of “trustworthy” AI in the federal government. Those policies carried over into the Biden administration.

All of that was before the 2022 debut of ChatGPT, which brought public fascination and worry about the possibilities of generative AI and helped spark a boom in AI-affiliated businesses. What's also different this time is that tech mogul and Trump adviser Elon Musk has been picked to lead a government cost-cutting commission. Musk holds strong opinions about AI's risks and grudges against some AI industry leaders, particularly ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which he has sued.

Raimondo and other officials sought to press home the idea that AI safety is not a partisan issue.

“And by the way, this room is bigger than politics. Politics is on everybody’s mind. I don’t want to talk about politics. I don’t care what political party you’re in, this is not in Republican interest or Democratic interest," she said. "It’s frankly in no one’s interest anywhere in the world, in any political party, for AI to be dangerous, or for AI to in get the hands of malicious non-state actors that want to cause destruction and sow chaos.”

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O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Hong Yuen Poon, Deputy Secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Digital Development and Information, speaks on a panel at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ambassador Philip Thigo, Special Envoy on Technology for the Office of the President of Kenya, speaks on a panel at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder of Anthropic, middle, speaks on a panel between Tino Cuéllar, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, left, and Elizabeth Kelly, Director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute, at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Tino Cuéllar, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, middle, speaks on a panel with Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder of Anthropic, second from right, and Elizabeth Kelly, Director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute, at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Tino Cuéllar, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, speaks on a panel at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Dario Amodei, CEO & Co-Founder of Anthropic, speaks on a panel at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Elizabeth Kelly, Director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute, listens to speakers at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Elizabeth Kelly, Director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute, speaks at the convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio in San Francisco, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal each won their first Cy Young Award on Wednesday night after the left-handers shared the MLB lead with 18 wins while leading their respective leagues in strikeouts and ERA.

Sale went 18-3 and topped the National League with 225 strikeouts, while his 2.38 ERA in 29 starts was the best among all major league qualifiers in his first season with the Braves. The 35-year-old was an All-Star for the eighth time and won his first Gold Glove this year.

Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and a big league-best 228 strikeouts in 31 starts for the Tigers. He was a unanimous winner in voting for the American League prize by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America that was completed before the playoffs.

Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes in the NL. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler got the other four and finished second. Hard-throwing Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes was third only two days after being selected the NL Rookie of the Year.

Kansas City starter Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) was runner-up to Skubal, and Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (47 saves) came in third.

Clayton Kershaw had been the NL’s last pitching triple crown winner in 2011, which was also the previous time both leagues had a pitcher accomplish the feat. Kershaw won the first of his three Cy Young Awards with the Los Angeles Dodgers that year, and 24-game winner Justin Verlander took the AL honor for Detroit.

With Sale and Skubal this season, there have been 25 times when a pitcher led his league in wins, strikeouts and ERA among qualifiers. A Cy Young Award followed every time.

After battling injuries since helping Boston win the 2018 World Series, Sale didn’t have any major issues in his Braves debut until he was scratched because of back issues from their final regular-season game, which they had to win to make the playoffs. He was then left off the roster for their Wild Card Series loss to San Diego.

Atlanta acquired Sale in a trade last December after he made only 31 starts for the Red Sox from 2021-23. He missed the 2020 season and most of 2021 after Tommy John surgery. He made only two starts in 2022 after he fractured a rib and then broke his left pinkie. He broke his right wrist riding a bicycle in August 2023, ending his final season with Boston.

Sale was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year last week at Major League Baseball’s All-MLB Awards Show.

This was the third time Sale finished among the top three in Cy Young Award voting. He was the AL runner-up in 2017 after his first season with Boston behind Corey Kluber, who was also the Cy Young Award winner in 2014 when Sale finished third while with the Chicago White Sox.

Sale won the eighth Cy Young Award for the Braves organization. Most of those came in the 1990s, when Greg Maddux won three in a row with Atlanta from 1993-95 — after being the 1992 winner with the Chicago Cubs. Tom Glavine won twice (1991 and 1998), and John Smoltz was the 1996 winner. Warren Spahn was the first in 1957 when the Braves played in Milwaukee.

Detroit now has six Cy Young Awards. Denny McLain won back-to-back in 1968 and 1969, and reliever Willie Hernández was the 1984 winner. Verlander’s Cy Young Award with the Tigers came two years before Max Scherzer win in 2013.

Skubal made his big league debut in 2020, two years after the Tigers drafted him in the ninth round.

In an unforgettable 2024 regular season filled with dominant performances, Skubal pitched at least six innings in 25 of his 31 starts. He was 6-0 in his first nine starts, and also finished the season the same way — 6-0 in his last nine starts while the Tigers made their surprising push to the playoffs.

He made his playoff debut with 17 consecutive scoreless innings before a five-run fifth that including a grand slam by Cleveland’s Lane Thomas in the deciding Game 5 of their AL Division Series. That 7-3 loss ended the Tigers' season.

The 22-year-old Skenes is the fifth rookie to finish among the top three in Cy Young Award voting. Only Fernando Valenzuela won both awards in the same year, in 1981 with the Dodgers in the National League.

Clase, with a 0.61 ERA in 74 1/3 innings over 74 games, is the first reliever to finish among the top three in Cy Young voting since San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman came in second for the NL award in 2006.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

FILE - Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes resets on the mound before delivering a pitch during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Sept. 22, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar, File)

FILE - From left are baseball players, Cleveland Guardians' Emmanuel Clase, Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo and Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal, in 2024. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - From left are baseball players, Atlanta Braves' Chris Sale, Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes and Philadelphia Phillies' Zack Wheeler. (AP Photo/File)