Masters of the Universe: Tech Companies to Attend White House AI Discussion

Executives from tech companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook are set to attend a discussion on Artificial Intelligence at the White House on Thursday.

Alongside 34 other major U.S. companies, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are set to appear at a meeting at the White House relating to artificial intelligence, the Washington Post reports. The meeting will reportedly relate to how the Trump administration can help to boost the country’s A.I. industry through funding and regulation. The Trump administration reportedly plans to ask A.I. experts and developers about methods by which A.I. could advance the agriculture, healthcare, and transportation industries in the U.S.

The White House is reportedly attempting to find a balance between using A.I. to make current industries more efficient without risking the jobs of human workers. Michael Kratsios, deputy chief technology officer at the White House, said in a statement: “Whether you’re a farmer in Iowa, an energy producer in Texas, a drug manufacturer in Boston, you are going to be using these techniques to drive your business going forward.”

Joining Facebook, Google and Amazon will be representatives from 34 other companies such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, Ford, Land O’Lakes, MasterCard, Pfizer and United Airlines. Facebook will be represented by their Vice President of A.I., Jerome Pesenti, while Amazon plans to send the lead scientist for its voice-assistant Alexa, Rohit Prasad.

The key point of interest for the Trump administration is reportedly U.S. jobs. Artificial Intelligence has long hailed as a threat to modern workers. Paul Daugherty, the chief technology and innovation officer of consulting firm Accenture, who is expected to attend the meeting this week, said in a statement: “We do believe in the short and medium term there will be job losses. There will be new jobs available, but the real challenge: if we can match people up and train them in an appropriate way.”

But the White House is not looking to slow development of A.I. programs by any means, Kratsios says: “Our free-market approach to scientific discovery harnesses the combined strengths of government, industry, and academia, resulting in the most successful innovation machine the world has ever known.”