Vice President J.D. Vance Advocates for AI Deregulation and Tech Innovation in America

J. D. Vance claims freeing AI from regulation is good for American workers and tech innovators | TechCrunch

On Tuesday, Vice President J. D. Vance said that the Trump administration's support of AI and tech innovations should benefit both populists and those investing and leading tech companies. "I think there's too much fear that AI will simply replace jobs rather than augmenting so many of the things that we do now," said Vance at the Andreessen Horowitz American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C. While Vance acknowledged that new technologies could lead to a displacement of certain jobs, as was the case with bank tellers when the ATM was invented, he said that history shows that innovation ultimately helps create more engaging, higher-paying jobs. "What I propose is that each group, our workers, the Populists on the one hand, the tech optimists on the other, have been failed by this government, not just the government of the last administration, but the government in some ways, of the last 40 years," Vance said. By not imposing significant regulations on AI, the Trump administration promises to give the tech sector the freedom to innovate. The vice president also argued that "rearranging trade and tariff regime internationally" as well as reduced immigration would act as a disincentive for offshoring. "Cheap labor is fundamentally a crutch, and it's a crutch that inhibits innovation," Vance said. "We don't want people seeking cheap labor. We want them investing and building right here in the United States of America."

Vance slams globalization for hampering American innovation

Vice President Vance defended the Trump administration's push for technology innovation despite any risks in a Tuesday speech to entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, arguing globalization has stifled this mission over the past several decades. "Our workers, the populists on the one hand, the tech optimists on the other, have been failed by this government, not just the government of the last administration, but the government in some ways, of the last 40 years, because there were two conceits that our leadership class had when it came to globalization," Vance said during his keynote address to the American Dynamism Summit. Vance argued the first conceit of globalization -- describing the interdependence of the world's economies and services -- was the assumption the U.S. would be able to separate the manufacturing of products from their design process. "The idea of globalization was that rich countries would move further up the value chain while the poor countries made the simpler things," he said, adding later, "But I think we got it wrong. It turns out that the geographies that do the manufacturing get awfully good at the designing of things." The vice president described how design firms work with their manufacturing partners and often share intellectual property, practices and sometimes employees as a result. "Now we assume that other nations would always trail us in the value chain. But it turns out that as they got better at the low end of the value chain, they also started catching up on the higher end, we were squeezed from both ends," he said. The second conceit, Vance argued, was the idea that cheap labor is a positive thing for innovation. "Cheap labor is fundamentally a crutch, and it's a crutch that inhibits innovation," the vice president said. "I might even say that it's a drug that too many American firms got addicted to now." Vance, a former venture capitalist, has served as one of the Trump administration's main messengers of technology policy. Tuesday's address built off his speech at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris last month. Vance on Tuesday echoed his push against excessive regulation, arguing that tech companies must be able to "build, build, build." "Our goal is to incentivize investment in our own borders, in our own businesses, our own workers and our own innovation," Vance said. "We don't want people seeking cheap labor. We want them investing and building right here in the United States of America." The vice president also took aim at deindustrialization, stating it poses a risk to both America's national security and workforce. "It's important because it affects both and the net result is dispossession for many in this country, of any part of the productive process," he continued. "And when our factories disappear and the jobs in those factories go overseas, American workers are faced not only with financial insecurity, they're also faced with a profound loss of personal and communal identity." The Trump administration has made clear it wants to bring jobs and production back to American, especially as foreign competition in the technology space ramps up. Shortly after being sworn into his second term, President Trump repealed former President Biden's 2023 executive order that placed guardrails on AI innovation and signed an executive order to roll back any policies that "act as barriers to American AI innovation." Vance acknowledged the persistent concerns over AI technology taking the jobs of Americans, but argued the technology might not have as much of an impact as people assume. He used the example of the ATM, which at the time was feared to replace bank tellers. "In reality, the advent of the ATM made bank tellers more productive, and you have more people today working in customer service in the financial sector than you had when the ATM was created," he said. "Now they're doing slightly different jobs." "We shouldn't be afraid of artificial intelligence and that, particularly for those of us lucky enough to be Americans, we shouldn't be fearful of productive new technologies," Vance added. "In fact, we should seek to dominate them, and that's certainly what this administration wants to accomplish."

Vance: GOP tensions between populists and tech wing 'overstated'

Vice President Vance on Tuesday said America should not be fearful of artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies, and argued populists and tech-focused leaders could co-exist, during a speech to technology and business leaders. Vance addressed the American Dynamism Summit, a gathering hosted by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in Washington, D.C., where he made the case for embracing artificial intelligence despite its potential risks. "In America, we've got to be tech-forward. Yes, there are concerns. Yes there are risks, but we have to be leaning into the AI future with optimism and hope, because I think real technological innovation is going to make our country stronger," Vance said. The vice president told attendees that America should "seek to dominate" AI and other new technologies. He invoked a speech he delivered in Paris last month in which he warned against "excessive regulation" of AI. Vance, who has deep professional and political ties to Silicon Valley, also brushed off the idea that President Trump's administration could not appeal to both populists and so-called "tech optimists." Populists, Vance said, have raised concerns that advances in AI and other technologies could cost working-class individuals their jobs and their sense of community. Tech optimists, the vice president said, worry about overregulation that stifles innovation. Vance said tensions between the two factions, both of which supported Trump in the last election, are "overstated." "I'd like to speak to these tensions as a proud member of both tribes," Vance said. "Let me put it simply. While this is a well-intentioned concern, I think it's based on a faulty premise. This idea that tech-forward people and the populists are somehow inevitably going to come to a loggerheads is wrong. I think the reality is that in any dynamic society, technology is going to advance."