Meet the ex-Biden appointee who could be major force against Trump’s AI agenda: 'Doomsayer'

FIRST ON FOX President Donald Trump s push to establish America s global AI dominance could run into friction from an unlikely source the effective altruism movement a small but influential group that has a darker outlook on artificial intelligence Trump signed an executive order earlier this year titled Removing Limitations to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence This week he met with top mechanism industry leaders including Mark Zuckerburg Bill Gates and others for meetings at the White House in which AI loomed large in the discussions However not all the industry s leaders share the president s vision for American AI dominance Jason Matheny a former senior Biden official who presently serves as the CEO of the RAND Corporation is a leader in the effective altruism movement which among other priorities seeks to regulate the enhancement of artificial intelligence with the goal of reducing its risks Effective altruism is a philanthropic social movement where proponents claim to be aiming to maximize the good they can do in the world and give to what they calculate are the majority effective charities and interventions Part of this movement includes powerful donors from across plenty of sectors including instrument where funds are poured into fighting against what the group sees as existential threats including artificial intelligence NEW AI APPS HELP RENTAL DRIVERS AVOID FAKE DAMAGE FEESSome in the movement have also pledged to give away a portion of their income while others have argued about the morality of earning as much money as doable in order to give it away A former Defense Department official familiar with the industry s leaders notified Fox News Digital that since a speech at an effective altruism forum in which he laid out his vision Matheny has been very deliberate about inserting personnel who share his AI-doomerism worldview into establishment and cabinet contractor roles Since then he has made good on every single one of his calls to action to explicitly infiltrate think tanks in-government decision makers and trusted authorities contractors with this effective altruism AI kind of doomsayer philosophy the official continued A RAND Corporation spokesperson pushed back against this label and mentioned that Matheny believes a wide range of views and backgrounds are essential to analyzing and informing sound masses strategy His interest is in encouraging talented young people to embrace population facility The spokesperson added that AI being an existential threat is not the lens through which the company approaches AI but commented Our researchers are taking a broad look at the various solutions AI is and will impact society including both opportunities and threats In his speech Matheny discussed his vision of influencing the administration from the inside and outside to advance effective altruistic goals The work that I've done at IARPA Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity has convinced me that there's a lot of low-hanging fruit within cabinet positions that we should be picking as effective altruists There are a great number of different roles that effective altruists can have within ruling body organizations Matheny stated an effective altruism forum in before going on to explain how even fairly junior positions can wield incredible influence GOOGLE CEO MAJOR TECH LEADERS JOIN FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP AT WHITE HOUSE AI MEETINGMatheny went on to explain the need for influence on the outside in the form of contractors working for executive agencies specialized in fields like biology and chemistry along with experts at various think tanks That's another way you can have an influence on the establishment Matheny stated Matheny advanced the philosophy s ideals in the Biden White House in his roles as deputy assistant to the president for machinery and national protection deputy director for national shield in the Office of Science and Instrument Strategy and coordinator for hardware and national guard at the National Shield Council According to reporting by Politico RAND bureaucrats were involved in writing former President Joe Biden s executive order Safe Secure and Trustworthy Growth and Use of Artificial Intelligence The order mirrored numerous effective altruist goals regarding AI such as the idea that harnessing AI for good and realizing its myriad benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks However a RAND spokesperson communicated Fox News Digital that Matheny had no role crafting the Biden EO but revealed its researchers did provide technical expertise and analysis to inform the EO in response to requests from policymakers The order read that responsible AI use has the anticipated to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous productive innovative and secure At the same time irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud discrimination bias and disinformation displace and disempower workers stifle competition and pose risks to national shield Its cure was to increase regulations on the rise of AI and add new administration reporting requirements for companies evolving the hardware For multiple in the industry this was seen as an example of establishment overreach that stifled innovation and hurt the U S s ability to compete with countries like China The order has since been revoked by Trump s AI order which was signed in the first meager days of his second administration However as head of RAND a population program and research advising group Matheny and RAND have continued to push their vision for AI regulation and warn about the anticipated pitfalls RAND has posted on social media in new months warning that AI will fundamentally reshape the economics of cybersecurity and that the growing use of AI chatbots for mental healthcare backing means society is 'deploying pseudo-therapists at an unprecedented scale ' Semafor released earlier this year that the Trump administration was butting heads with Anthropic a top artificial intelligence company with ties to the EA movement and the Biden administration on AI strategy It's hard to tell a clean story of every single actor involved but at the heart the Doomerism district that Jason's really at the heart of what they are really concerned with is they truly believe about a runaway super-intelligent model that takes over the world like a Terminator scenario the former DOD official notified Fox News Digital adding that the fear of Effective Altruists that AI is an existential threat has led to their push that is restrictive to the advancement of the equipment With respect to the Trump administration s AI policies much RAND analysis is focused on key parts of the President s AI Action Plan including analysis we ve done on AI evaluations secure figures centers ability options for AI cybersecurity and biosecurity the RAND spokesperson commented Mr Matheny appreciates that the Trump Administration may have different views than the prior administration on AI plan the spokesperson continued He remains committed along with RAND to contributing expertise and analysis to helping the Trump Administration shape policies to advance the United States interests