As President Biden’s term winds down, new policies to bolster U.S. AI leadership are making waves. From executive orders enabling private AI data centers on federal land to controversial export controls on AI chips and models, this episode unpacks the implications. Why are countries like India and Israel facing restrictions? What do these measures mean for U.S. industry and global AI development?

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Welcome back to the AI Daily Brief the Last week or two of an Administration is Always an interesting thing in US Politics you get of course presidential Pardons and you also get some midnight Rule making which can be anything from Something as Petty as score settling to A president trying to make his last mark On an important issue well President Biden has chosen to use a part of that Last round of political Capital to focus On AI in fact he has released a pair of Policies both designed to double down on Us AI Supremacy So let's talk about what is going on and Why at least one of these is fairly Controversial first up on Tuesday the President issued an executive order to Allow private sector AI companies to Build data centers on Federal Land Companies will be allowed to lease land Owned by the Department of Defense and The department of energy as part of the Deal companies will need to develop Enough clean energy resources to power Their facilities there are no grants Attached companies will need to pay Their own way still the policy could Clear some of the red tape that is sty Development of new data centers over the Past year in a press release the White House said building AI infrastructure in The United States is a national security Imperative as ai's capabilities grow so

Do its implications for American Safety And Security domestic data centers for Training and operating powerful AI Models will help the United States Facilitate AI safe and secure Development harness Ai and service of National Security and prevent Adversaries from accessing powerful Systems to the detriment of our military And National Security it will also help Prevent America from growing dependent On other countries to access power Powerful AI tools this represents the Full Embrace of the opinion that has Splashed across the opinion pages from Sam Alman and Dario amade and so many Others over the last year that a AI Needs to be viewed as a national Security priority and that b a key part Of doing so is making sure that the Infrastructure for AI is there and Available interestingly the Environmental impacts and emphasis on Renewable energy seems to have been a Key sticking point among Democrats in December a group of senators led by Sheldon White House wrote the president Asking we urge you to reconsider any Potential executive action that could Lead to increased pollution and cost for Consumers we are the United States of America there is no doubt that we can Win the AI race while accelerating our Decarbonization efforts now of course

This particular letter didn't explain How but it serves more as a statement of Protest from this particular group of Senators another concern appears to be The security risks involving AI Companies building on Federal Land will Be required to assess the security Implications of AI models that are Developed in these data centers they Will also need to purchase quote Appropriate share of American-made Semiconductors so that was one of the Two new policies the other however was The one that's gotten much more chatter With the appropriately laborious name Framework for artificial intelligence Diffusion the 168 page document comes With a set of new export controls with The intention of the new restrictions to Quote provide Clarity to Allied and Partner Nations about how they can Benefit from Ai and streamline licensing Issues however in practice the new rules Are clearly an escalating in the policy To control where AI chips from us Companies can go the core of the new Restrictions is the separation of the World into three tiers with different Levels of export controls the first tier Is the most permissive and includes Close allies like Japan and South Korea Who are entirely unaffected basically The countries that will have no Restrictions on how many AI chips they

Can buy from the United States the third Tier are clear adversaries like Russia And China these countries are already Barred from purchasing Advanced chips And now face new restrictions regarding Access to model weights interestingly This is the first time that models Themselves have been regulated as a Controlled export however the new rules Only affect Frontier models the list of Adversaries is identical to the list of Countries where the US has established An arms embargo suggesting that in the Minds of the White House military Conflict and AI development now go hand Inand the vyl group and easily the most Controversial is tier 2 and this Includes a lot of countries that you Probably would have assumed would have Much more unfettered access swept up in That category include Mexico India and Israel These countries will be restricted to Purchasing 50,000 gpus per country now For a sense of scale that's about half Of what Elon Musk has deployed in the Colossus supercluster just one company So this is a very serious restriction on What you can buy seeing India and Israel In that category really has some people Scratching their heads National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters it Ensures that the infrastructure for Training Frontier AI the most Exquisite

AI systems at the front Frontier happens Either in America or in the Jurisdictions of our closest allies and That that capacity does not get Offshored like chips and batteries and Other industries that we've had to Invest hundreds of billions of dollars To bring back on Shore one of the things That people have been really flumed About with this new set of restrictions Is that there's been lots of talk of Trying to close loopholes in the sense That some of the problems with previous Export controls was that they didn't Deal with subsidiaries of companies from Restricted countries that operated in Non-restricted countries and yet this Doesn't really deal with that headon at All but as I mentioned up front these Are controversial and that's not the Only reason why companies including Oracle Nvidia and others have come out Against the rules Oracle said that the Rule will quote go down as one of the Most destructive to ever hit the US Technology industry Ned finle nvidia's Vice president of government Affairs Said that the rule threatens to quote Squander America's hardw technological Advantage by attempting to rig Market Outcomes and stifle competition clearly Appealing to the incoming Administration Finle said as the first Trump Administration demonstrated America wins

Through Innovation competition and by Sharing our Technologies with the world Not by retreating behind a wall of Government overreach fle added this last Minute Biden Administration policy would Be a legacy that will be criticized by Us industry and the global Community we Would encourage President Biden to not Preempt incoming president Trump by Enacting a policy that will only harm The US economy set America back and play Into the hands of us adversaries Bipartisan Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Kwell made a similar argument in their Letter to the Commerce Department back In December they wrote quote such Draconian measures would severely hinder The sale of us technology abroad and Risk driving foreign buyers to Chinese Competitors like Huawei now if you Listen to Long read Sunday last weekend You'll know that there is a lot of Debate around this right now I shared Economist Tyler Cowan's piece where he Argued that the success of deep seek Which is basically necessity as the Mother of invention trained for cheap Getting around the restrictions Suggested to him that those restrictions Have unintended consequences that make Them not so valuable but then there was The CEO of anthropic writing in the Wall Street Journal that Trump can keep America's AI Advantage by doubling down

On strong export controls as to what Incoming president Trump does in this Issue it is very hard to say on the one Hand being tough on China is part of his Pitch on the other hand being supportive Of American industry is part of his Pitch will this be one of the first Times that we see incoming White House Ai and cryptar David saaks get involved In policy we don't have very long to Wait to find out for now that that is Going to do it for today's AI Daily Brief until next time peace