President of the United States and convicted felon Donald Trump made a flurry of announcements and proposals in his first full day in office. One caught our interest- a $500 billion AI thing he’s calling “Project Stargate.” It’s a complicated topic, with ramifications that are pretty far reaching across the board.
The subject of AI is a tricky one since the technology can be used for a number of reasons in a number of industries. The name, Project Stargate, is particularly ironic considering “Stargate” is the name of a 1994 science-fiction film and subsequent franchise of television series. One of the biggest contentions of unregulated AI use is how it can take away jobs in the entertainment sector, specifically impacting writers, actors, and voice actors. Remember the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023? The threat of AI was a big part of that.
There is truth to the notion that automation and technological advancements have always been at odds with labor; it’s the reason we don’t have actual elevator or telephone switchboard operators anymore. AI is far more complicated than that though given how it could be used as a helpful tool for research and complicated procedural learning but can also be used to deceive people into thinking they’re speaking with a celebrity, profiting off of the artwork of others, and tweaking performances of living people.
Trump’s proposal for Project Stargate was backed by Oracle founder Larry Ellison and the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman. The supposed goal is to create campuses for energy production to help power AI. Just like when NFTs and blockchain were all the rage, arguments were being made about how much energy it took to power these things. The same argument applies to AI. Trump argues creating these buildings will create 100,000 jobs. The “big, beautiful buildings” as Trump described them, will allegedly be up to half a million square feet in size.
While yes, these buildings could create jobs nothing was said of the number of jobs it could negatively impact. As previously noted, there’s a reason SAG-AFTRA fought to prevent unregulated AI from entering the industry within their contract. Additionally, the same concern about the energy use for blockchain comes into play here. What’s the environmental impact that these centers will have. It’s hard to believe they’d be carbon neutral and it’s probably not a coincidence this is happening at the same time Trump is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Again, Artificial Intelligence can be something remarkably helpful when it’s used by the right people for the right reasons. But how often do the interests of some of the richest people in the country line-up with those of average Americans? And that’s all the more reason to be concerned about Project Stargate.
You can read OpenAI’s full statement below and follow fox news and usa politics for updates:
