US ‘totally’ rejects global AI governance: White House adviser
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White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios made the comments ahead of an expected leaders’ statement setting out a shared vision on how to handle AI.
PHOTO: EPA
NEW DELHI – White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios said on Feb 20 that the US “totally” rejects global governance of artificial intelligence.
Mr Kratsios, head of the United States’ delegation to a major AI summit in New Delhi
“As the Trump administration has now said many times: We totally reject global governance of AI,” he said at the summit, which closes on Feb 20.
“AI adoption cannot lead to a brighter future if it is subject to bureaucracies and centralised control.”
On the morning of Feb 20, UN chief Antonio Guterres had said that a new expert panel convened by the global body aimed to “make human control a technical reality”
The advisory group – aiming to be to AI what the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to global warming – was created in August, and its 40 members have now been confirmed, Mr Guterres said.
The AI Impact Summit is the fourth annual international gathering focused on the risks and opportunities presented by advanced computing power.
At the 2025 edition in Paris, US Vice-President J.D. Vance warned against “excessive regulation” that “could kill a transformative sector”.
In New Delhi, Mr Kratsios said that “international discussion of AI has evolved, as this summit itself attests”, noting the change of the meeting’s name from AI Safety to AI Impact.
“This is clearly a positive development”, but “too many international forums, such as the UN’s Global Dialogue on AI Governance, maintain a general atmosphere of fear”, he said.
“We must replace that fear with hope,” Mr Kratsios added, saying that the technology has the potential to “advance human flourishing and drive unprecedented prosperity”.
He argued that “ideological, risk-focused obsessions, such as climate or equity, become excuses for bureaucratic management and centralisation”.
“In the name of safety, they increase the danger that these tools will be used for tyrannical control.”
“Focusing AI policy on safety and speculative risks... inhibits a competitive ecosystem, entrenches incumbents, and isolates developing countries from full participation in the AI economy,” Mr Kratsios said. AFP
