Considering Trump’s AI Plan and the Future It Portends
Yesterday, United States President Donald Trump took to the stage at the "Winning the AI Race Summit" to promote the administration's AI Action Plan. Shortly after it was published, Tech Policy Press editor Justin Hendrix sat down with Sarah Myers West, the co-director of the AI Now Institute; Maia Woluchem, the program director of the Trustworthy Infrastructures team at Data and Society; and Ryan Gerety, the director of the Athena Coalition, to discuss the plan and what it portends for the future.
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Centering Disability Rights in US Tech Policy 35 Years After ADA
This weekend, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) turns 35. Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the law provides broad anti-discrimination protections for people with disabilities in the US, and has impacted how people with disabilities interact with various technologies. To discuss how the law has aged and what the fight for equity and inclusion looks like going forward, Tech Policy Press fellow Ariana Aboulafia spoke with three leaders working at the intersection of disability and technology:Maitreya Shah is the tech policy director at the American Association of People with Disabilities.Blake Reid is a professor at the University of Colorado.Cynthia Bennett is a senior research scientist at Google.
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Through to Thriving: Finding Balance and Resilience in the Trust & Safety Field
Tech Policy Press fellow Anika Collier Navaroli is the host of Through to Thriving, a special podcast series where she talks with technology policy practitioners to explore futures beyond our current moment. For this episode, Anika spoke with two experts on Trust & Safety about balance and resilience in a notoriously difficult field. Alice Hunsberger is the head of Trust & Safety at Musubi, a firm that sells AI content moderation solutions. Jerrel Peterson is the director of content policy at Spotify. Hunsberger and Peterson discussed how they broke into the field, their observations about the current state of the industry, how to better the working relationship between civil society and industry, and their advice for the next generation of practitioners.
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How the EU's Voluntary AI Code is Testing Industry and Regulators Alike
Last week, following months of negotiation and just weeks before the first legal deadlines under the EU AI Act take effect, the European Commission published the final Code of Practice on General-Purpose AI. The Code is voluntary and intended to help companies demonstrate compliance with the AI Act. It sets out detailed expectations around transparency, copyright, and measures to mitigate systemic risks. Signatories will need to publish summaries of training data, avoid unauthorized use of copyrighted content, and establish internal frameworks to monitor risks. Companies that sign on will see a “reduced administrative burden” and greater legal clarity, the Commission said. At the same time, both European and American tech companies have raised concerns about the AI Act’s implementation timeline, with some calling to “stop the clock” on the AI Act’s rollout.To learn more, Tech Policy Press associate editor Ramsha Jahangir spoke to Luca Bertuzzi, senior AI correspondent at MLex, to unpack the final Code of Practice on GPAI, why it matters, and how it fits into the broader rollout of the AI Act.
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How US States Are Shaping AI Policy Amid Federal Debate and Industry Pushback
In the United States, state legislatures are key players in shaping artificial intelligence policy, as lawmakers attempt to navigate a thicket of politics surrounding complex issues ranging from AI safety, deepfakes, and algorithmic discrimination to workplace automation and government use of AI. The decision by the US Senate to exclude a moratorium on the enforcement of state AI laws from the budget reconciliation package passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump over the July 4 weekend leaves the door open for more significant state-level AI policymaking.To take stock of where things stand on state AI policymaking, Tech Policy Press associate editor Cristiano Lima-Strong spoke to two experts:Scott Babwah Brennen, director of NYU’s Center on Technology Policy, and Hayley Tsukayama, associate director of legislative activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
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