February Newsletter
Director’s Note:
“Happy New Year and Happy Black History Month! AI continues to be in the headlines in the midst of the political storm that has taken over the country and the globe. Domestically, the rescinding of Biden’s AI executive order is going to unravel the minimal steps taken to regulate AI in the U.S., dampening the momentum that was being built in places such as NIST, and putting the U.S. behind others, especially the EU, in this space. This will exacerbate current gaps in regulation even further, putting control in the hands of a small number of big corporations who have shown the ineffectiveness of self-regulation again and again. The change of direction by Meta is a good example of this. In his testimony to the Senate in September 2023, Mark Zuckerberg, among other executives, endorsed AI regulation. In the last few weeks, in anticipation of the changing administration, Facebook changed course, replacing the internal mechanism for fact-checking, leaving the door open for the spread of even more misinformation to the society. Not only that, Meta is paying $25 million to Trump to settle a lawsuit for deleting his Facebook account in the wake of the events of January 6, 2021 — a move described by Senator Elizabeth Warren as “a bribe and a signal to every company that corruption is the name of the game.” This is just the beginning of a decline in transparency and accountability in the tech arena, the deeper impacts of which we will see down the road.
Globally, the release of DeepSeek by a Chinese startup raised important economic and geopolitical issues. On the one hand, it took pundits by surprise, sending shockwaves through the U.S. stock market. On the other, it elevated narratives about the national security threats of Chinese dominance in AI, prompting Silicon Valley venture capitalists such as Marc Andreesen to describe it as AI’s Sputnik Moment.
While it is premature to predict the long-term effects of these developments, it is hard not to be reminded of the responsibilities of the academic community in helping the public and the press make sense of the situation. This is a key component of our mission here at AAAIP, and I’d like to invite you all to get more actively involved in carrying out this mission. The temporary freezing of federal grants should encourage us to act more cohesively and more creatively in this regard.
On a more entertaining note, speaking of the Sputnik Moment and in celebration of the Black History month, I’d like to encourage you to watch Hidden Figures — a movie with a message of hope in the midst the current chaos.” - Hamid Ekbia
Member Spotlight: Assistant Professor, Baobao Zhang
At AAAIP, we celebrate and share the profound work of our members. This month, we are proud to spotlight Maxwell Dean Assistant Professor of the Politics of AI in the Political Science Department at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. Professor Baobao is also a Schmidt Futures AI2050 Early Career Fellow and a research affiliate with the Centre for the Governance of AI.
Current Research:
Professor BaoBao explores the intersection of politics, public policy, and emerging technologies through three primary research streams: Politics of Artificial Intelligence and Related Technologies, Advanced Automation and the Future of Work, and Advancing Quantitative Social Science Methods. At the Centre for the Governance of AI, her work examines public perceptions of AI and governance challenges, revealing limited trust in institutions to manage AI responsibly. Supported by the OECD and CIFAR, her research on automation investigates how AI-driven changes in the workplace influence job security perceptions and policy support. Her contributions to quantitative social science methods have enhanced research reliability, with findings informing policy discussions at organizations like the World Health Organization and the US Senate.
Further readings into her research HERE.
AAAIP Member Media Involvement: “An Expert's Take On The U.S.-China A.I. Race”
“The Chinese A.I. app DeepSeek caused U.S. tech stocks to drop, as the model appears to require less computing power than its competitors. Nationwide Reporter Jaden Jefferson dissect this and more in the U.S.-China A.I. race with Hamid Ekbia, professor at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.”