(AFP) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday named some of the biggest names in US technology to his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, assembling a roster that includes Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The council, known as PCAST, will be co-chaired by Trump’s AI and crypto adviser David Sacks and Michael Kratsios, a tech investor who previously served as the country’s chief technology officer during the president’s first term.
The list of appointees includes Oracle chief Larry Ellison and Silicon Valley heavyweight Marc Andreessen, as well as Nvidia boss Jensen Huang and Lisa Su of chipmaker AMD. “The United States has the opportunity to lead the world in AI. I’m honored to join the president’s council and work with other industry leaders to help make this happen,” Zuckerberg said in a statement sent to AFP.
The Council, which has existed since president Franklin Roosevelt, is purely advisory: it produces reports and recommendations on topics the president directs it to study, but has no regulatory or enforcement powers. Past councils have weighed in on everything from pandemic preparedness to quantum computing to clean energy.
The appointments are the latest sign of the deep ties Trump has cultivated with Silicon Valley since returning to the White House, in a major change from his first four years in office. The growing closeness between the White House and the tech industry has begun to generate some political backlash, with recent polling showing Americans believe Big Tech has too much influence over Washington policy. They are also wary of the rise of artificial intelligence — a potential liability for Trump as he heads into crucial midterm elections in November.
© 2024 AFP
