Topic of the Week: Trump Meets with AI Leaders at the White House

President Trump met with the leaders of the country’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) companies at the White House last week. He then announced that they had signed an agreement for voluntary safety standards, as well as an accord to rename “artificial intelligence” to “super intelligence,” the term preferred by Trump. Our analysts rated media coverage in our Topic of the Week.

An article on the CBS News website reports on the meeting and the agreement. The article includes quotes from President Trump and examines recently publicized concerns about the safety of AI development, including some warnings from the AI companies themselves. Our analysts found the reporting to be a “mix of fact reporting and analysis” with a “middle” bias.

A video from the NBC News NOW program “Meet the Press NOW” includes clips of Trump explaining that “self regulation” by the AI companies is best and why he will “never stifle the growth of technology that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.” Host Kelly O’Donnell interviews White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor and tech journalist Kevin Roose. Alcindor says that because of competition with China, Trump believes U.S. companies should not slow down its advancement of AI technology. Roose explains how the agreement brokered by Trump is different than what was requested by some in the AI industry, who called for a slowdown. Roose says these AI companies are competitors and it’s unusual to expect them to police themselves. “We don’t have Delta Airlines regulating United Airlines. We don’t have … Coke regulating Pepsi,” he says. Analysts rated the reporting as “analysis” with a “middle” bias.

Articles from the New York Post and Blaze Media were rated as “opinion” with a “strong right” bias. The New York Post published an editorial that supports the president’s handling of AI technology, as explained in the headline: “Trump’s striking the right balance for ensuring AI safety — and success.” The editorial downplays the “constant flood of ‘AI horror’ stories,” calling them “vague fearmongering (some of it from tech CEOs!) about AI breaking out of control, putting the whole human race at risk.” The article says the Federal Trade Commission has announced that it will keep an eye on AI tools to make sure they don’t pose a danger, and it touts AI advances that it says are already making a positive difference and are driving economic growth. “Team Trump has its eye firmly on protecting the future with its focus on winning the AI race while also giving the public solid reason to believe the tech and the tech firms are under control,” it concludes.

Blaze Media calls Trump’s meeting with AI leaders one of the “most momentous political occasions in U.S. history — and perhaps human history.” The article says the nature of power on Earth is changing, and these AI leaders will have more power than anyone else. It agrees with Trump that it’s better that the companies regulate themselves: “… it would be scarier if the companies threw themselves at the feet of lawgiving and tried to fob off responsibility onto a new written code.” Analysts found that the article shows support for Trump’s efforts at AI regulation through the lens of Christianity: “… the accord is being-first — human-being-first. That is exactly what it needs to be if we are to avoid the false faith that our identity is merely the slave of information.” The article, analysts said, suggests that laws cannot assure responsibility, but character can.

A video on the Ring of Fire YouTube channel focuses on the new AI-run government website, America.gov. Host Josh Gay says when it was first launched it gave factual answers to people’s questions: Who won the 2020 election? (Joe Biden), Was there widespread fraud in the 2020 election? (no), Is the plant warming because people use fossil fuels? (yes), Do offshore windmills kill whales? (no evidence). However, just minutes later, when asked who won the 2020 election, the website said that “it doesn’t answer political questions.” Gay says, “…somebody in Donald Trump’s orbit decided on some alternative facts.” He also ridicules Trump’s rebranding of AI as “super intelligence.” Analysts found the video to be a “snarky and sarcastic detailing of Trump’s unveiling of the America.gov AI model and AI luncheon.” They rated it as “opinion” with a “hyper-partisan left” bias.

The lowest-rated coverage from our content set came from Daily Beast. Its article focuses on Trump’s skin tone during the “bonkers” White House appearance with technology CEOs. Here are a few examples from the article: “The president’s orange hue stood out, especially next to pale-faced tech executives.” “The 80-year-old, who looked like he had just applied a coat of face bronzer, stuck out among all the other men in the group.” “Photos show he appeared much less orange indoors.” The article then describes the AI agreement, which Trump said would be “morally binding” and said the tech executives would be “self-policing.” Analysts noted that a majority of the article focuses on Trump’s appearance rather than the substance of the meeting. Because of the article’s tone of mocking the president, it was rated as “unfair persuasion” with a “hyper-partisan left” bias.

Want to see if you agree with our analysts? Follow along with our weekly Topic of the Week exercise by visiting our website. New Topics of the Week are posted each Monday. Read the articles and watch the videos yourself, then come back on Wednesday to compare your scores with our analysts. Learn more here.

Beth Heldebrandt is Director of Communications at Ad Fontes Media. She has more than 35 years of experience in the fields of journalism and public relations, and was an adjunct instructor of journalism for 17 years at Eastern Illinois University. Beth has a B.A. in journalism from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and an M.A. in English from Eastern Illinois University. She’s a mom and grandma, and enjoys traveling, puzzles and reading.