President Donald Trump recent AI announcement has the potential to spark a technology “renaissance” in the United States and serve as a powerful statement, similar to former President John F. Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon, according to a former top White House IT official.
During a speech at the White House, Trump announced that Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle have joined forces for Stargate, a project to build data centers in the US to power AI. The initial investment in the project will be $100 billion, with plans to expand it to $500 billion over the next four years. The first data center built as part of the initiative will be in Texas, and will eventually expand to other states.
Talking to Fox News Digital, Theresa Payton, the first female White House chief information officer during President George W. Bush’s administration, says the news, which Trump calls “the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure project, so far, in history,” caught her attention.
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President Trump’s promise of artificial intelligence could have an impact comparable to former President John F. Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon, according to a former White House official. (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP/KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Central Press/Getty Images)
“I really believe that, just like you read in the history books about how President Kennedy said, we’re going to put a man on the moon. This is one of those great declarations that is so important to the future of America. This has the potential to be a kind of beacon of American technological advancements, and I really think our real success will depend on what’s behind the big headline,” she said.
To ensure US success and leadership in artificial intelligence, Payton says the project should set the “gold standard” for the rest of the world in terms of responsible innovation, taking into account security, protection, individual rights and privacy.
The first data center built as part of the initiative will be in Texas, and will eventually expand to other states. The Trump administration claims the venture could create 100,000 new jobs.
Payton told Fox News Digital that the people involved in the project have gone through several shifts in technological innovation and had to reinvent their companies and skill sets needed to move forward—with the potential to offer first-hand knowledge of what it takes to mitigate relocation of labor force.
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Theresa M. Payton was the first female Chief Information Officer in the White House during the administration of President George W. Bush and is currently the CEO and founder of Fortalice Solutions, a boutique cybersecurity and intelligence firm listed in the Global Cybersecurity Top 500 . (Fox News)
“If you think about the typing stocks of the past and how they’ve been replaced by word processing, if you think about manufacturing jobs that have been replaced by robotics and machines, we need to think ahead and show people who are in the jobs that are affected. You can retrain, you can improve skills, things can be retooled and I believe that will create a sort of next technological renaissance,” she said.
Payton believes that Trump’s foray into artificial intelligence infrastructure can have major economic effects if the United States “dreams up” the project in advance and sets the appropriate requirements.
The project represents a growing entanglement between Trump and Big Tech leaders, a relationship that worries some critics. On Monday, CNN called Trump’s return to the White House “the inauguration of an oligarch.”
President Biden warned in his farewell speech to “ultra rich” “oligarchy” posing a threat to America as the CEOs of major tech companies warmed to then-President-elect Trump in recent months.
However, Payton says how Trump handles those relationships will be the true test of their success or failure.
Three top AI industry executives defend President Donald Trump’s Stargate project in ‘Special Report’. (Fox News)
“There are career civil servants, there are private sector companies. There are different industrial sectors. And each one plays a role in strengthening our economy and improving our national security. And, you know, I think you could probably say about Every president brings series of relationships. And so, the key is just understanding how those relationships are used in a way that benefits the United States and, you know, kind of let the results and outcomes be, you know, how those relationships are driven,” she said.
Payton also noted that transparency from the Trump administration will be key to the success of AI, infrastructure and energy projects in the US
This week, Trump was broadcasting live signing executive orders, loudly calling out what they were as he held them and let reporters ask questions. She suggested that the level of transparency of large administrative projects would be “unbelievable”.
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But he is most afraid that the short-term results concerning large spending and large strategic projects will not be announced or fulfilled.
“I’ve seen it when I’ve worked in financial services, and you can see it in government projects that are 30, 60, 90-day results. So, for me, hopefully, they’ll start publishing an approach that shows you some sort of 90- daily sprints over the next year, over the next two years for the Stargate project, so we’re actually seeing how the money is being spent, the successes, and keeping the people behind it. success, cheering, cheering for it, but also that level of transparency that will be needed,” she added.
Payton also emphasized that computers from large data centers must be properly tailored and targeted for important purposes, not frivolously spent on low-level AI tasks.
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