Wary of Future Job Losses, White House Convenes Tech Leaders at AI Summit
December 06 2018 - 5:20PM
Dow Jones News
By Douglas MacMillan
WASHINGTON -- Tech leaders discussed at the White House on
Thursday closer collaboration with the government on artificial
intelligence and support for U.S. workers likely to be impacted by
its rise.
President Trump briefly joined the meeting, which marked an
easing of tensions between Washington and Silicon Valley.
Tech-industry executives have been critical of Mr. Trump's policies
on immigration and climate change since his election.
Ivanka Trump helped convene the roundtable with the chief
executives, including Microsoft Corp.'s Satya Nadella, Alphabet
Inc. unit Google's Sundar Pichai, International Business Machines
Corp.'s Ginni Rometty, Oracle Corp.'s Safra Catz and Qualcomm
Inc.'s Steve Mollenkopf. Other notable attendees included U.S.
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and former Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger.
The summit's theme was "Industries of the Future." It was
intended to be a listening session for tech leaders to share policy
ideas, a senior administration official said. In addition to the
topic of artificial intelligence, the agenda featured 5G wireless
technology, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing and
initiatives to boost U.S. science, technology, engineering and math
education.
"We had a productive and engaging discussion at the White House
today about America's leadership in emerging technologies," Mr.
Pichai said.
AI, a growth area for U.S. businesses, is expected to put
millions of truck drivers, retail cashiers and other American
workers out of a job. Ms. Trump, the president's daughter and
senior adviser, has spearheaded White House initiatives to better
equip these workers for the future, including providing data to job
seekers and asking companies to invest in skills training. AI has
emerged as one of the areas at the center of intensifying
competition between the U.S. and China for global technological
supremacy.
Three of the world's largest tech firms and AI leaders -- Apple
Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. -- were absent from the
discussion. The senior administration official said those companies
weren't invited to the event. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently discussed
tech policy issues with Ms. Trump over breakfast in Idaho, the
administration official said.
A spokesman for Facebook confirmed the company wasn't invited to
the roundtable. Representatives for Amazon and Apple declined to
comment.
The White House previously held a discussion on AI in May, where
technology adviser Michael Kratsios pledged that the administration
would make a priority of advancing artificial-intelligence research
through greater funding and other steps.
Tech CEOs emerged as critics of Mr. Trump's policies early in
his term in office. Google and Microsoft joined dozens of
technology companies in February 2017 challenging President Trump's
original travel ban, which barred visitors and immigrants from
seven majority-Muslim countries.
IBM's Ms. Rometty was part of a group of more than 60 business
leaders who wrote a letter in August of this year criticizing a
U.S. immigration system they said was unfair to the highly-skilled
employees who make up a significant part of their workforce.
Also in August, tensions between Google and Mr. Trump escalated
after the president accused the search giant of elevating critical
news stories about his presidency at the expense of friendly
conservative voices. Google said at the time its search results
aren't biased toward a particular political ideology.
Google's Mr. Pichai is preparing to testify at a House hearing
next week, where he is expected to be asked about anticonservative
bias, as well as about lawmakers' concerns around data privacy and
the company's development of a search engine that would comply with
China's internet censors.
Alex Leary
, John D. McKinnon and Tripp Mickle contributed to this
article.
Write to Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 06, 2018 17:05 ET (22:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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