We’ve Got Talent: Encouraging the Innovators and Students of Our Nation Towards Excellence
The United States is home to some of the most genius innovators and groundbreaking technologies of the modern age. Headlines in high profile news outlets frequently recount the cutthroat competition between tech companies and entrepreneurs, eager to develop products that change lives and win over the market. Excellence is the result of this competitive environment, and the U.S. currently leads the world in AI development and investment. The greatest obstacle to shoring up this leadership is not a lack of talent, but rather an overabundance of regulation, with red tape and bureaucracy stifling and confusing efforts at innovation. Last week marked a national push to celebrate and encourage the talent of American students, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
President Trump signed an executive order (EO) Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. The order is a complement to his EO from January, Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, which emphasized the importance of excelling as a nation in order to protect national security and maintain global leadership. The new EO correctly identifies one major barrier to AI leadership: a patchwork of state laws. “To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation. But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.”
To address the excessive state regulation the EO proposes a “minimally burdensome national standard” and a series of directives to ensure that lawmakers are well equipped to create a national standard, including an AI litigation task force and an evaluation of state AI laws. While encouraging a national framework, it also includes carveouts for specific state AI laws, like those pertaining to child safety or data center permitting. The new EO sends a strong message to Congress that action must be taken to stop the growing patchwork of state AI laws and the White House is ready to provide the guidelines and resources to do so.
On the same day that the EO was released, First Lady Melania Trump announced the Presidential AI Challenge. The challenge is an initiative to “inspire young people and educators to create AI-based innovative solutions to community challenges while fostering AI interest and competency.” The goal of the challenge is to encourage creative adoption, while “demystifying” the technology in order to prepare both students and educators for the ways that AI is transforming the workforce and the world. This attention to the nation’s youth and their potential to innovate and improve the technology makes a perfect companion to the EO. American leadership must be forward facing, and preparing the next generation is equally as important to that leadership as removing regulatory barriers.
Louisiana is poised to gain from both the EO and the Presidential AI challenge. Our state has welcomed the business that AI brings to the table. From landmark investments in AI data centers, which yield great economic benefits to their communities, to entrepreneurial startups positioning Louisiana as an emerging tech hub, our state is embracing AI.
In Richland Parish, Meta is building its largest AI data center to date. While the project is ongoing, it has attracted billions of dollars in investment and brought the attention of the tech industry to Louisiana. Recent research indicates that data centers not only bring construction and infrastructure-focused jobs to an area, they can help the larger community in the long run by lowering electricity costs. The Richland Parish data center, along with Louisiana’s other data center projects, mean that our state is prepared to offer the infrastructure for AI excellence. The same innovators emboldened to compete and excel under the new EO can bring their business here.
Louisiana’s schools are championing AI, too. Last year, the Louisiana Department of Education’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force released comprehensive guidance on AI for K-12 school educators. The agency’s continued efforts to leverage AI to boost educational outcomes have received national attention. In postsecondary education, Louisiana State University (LSU) just added a bachelor’s degree in AI to build upon its already existing AI capstone course. This year, those participating in the AI capstone course at LSU were able to exercise their talents in Tiger Stadium at an AI showcase. These are just a few examples of concerted efforts made by Louisiana schools to prepare students and educators for the future. The First Lady’s challenge should be welcome by a state that has steadily established a name for itself in AI-based academic efforts.
The new EO and the AI Challenge acknowledge something that the startups, labs, and classrooms of this nation have already embraced: the United States can lead the world in using AI for good. Louisiana, with its energy framework, pro-business regulatory approach, and forward-facing classrooms, stands to benefit and excel under the current administration’s celebration of American innovation and talent.
Links to Learn More
(Machine) Learning in Louisiana Schools | Pelican Institute for Public Policy
