At the Speed of Irrelevance

CHAPTER 6The OSTP Obsession Continues

LONG BEFORE THE WORLD got shackled with the chains imposed by the pandemic, Washington, DC, was bustling with AI-related activities. In March of 2019, The Economist organized a conference on AI. It was strategically designed to announce the reappearance of artificial intelligence back at the national stage. The aftermath of the unexpected results of the 2016 elections had wiped out or steamrolled many initiatives. Those that survived went underground to try to take the pulse of the new administration before reemerging. Apparently, AI was one such initiative, and it had to wait for its turn behind other compelling priorities such as the coal, oil, and trucking industries. When it finally reemerged, it was brought back to life by a presidential directive signed by President Trump more than two years after he had assumed office. In February of 2019 the president signed the corresponding executive order.

The fact that it took the president two years to issue a directive that pretty much stated that America must maintain its AI leadership position was a testament to the complacency that surrounded America. As if it were something that America should have waited for two years, the power and potential of AI were ignored at the highest level, and when finally the president addressed the issue, it was too little, too late.

BETWEEN 2017 AND 2018

Besides hiding under the rock somewhere the entire 2017 and most of 2018, the OSTP did only two things. ...