Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary Thursday, snubbing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I am optimistic that we can return America to its rightful position of economic and military strength and the undisputed moral leader of the free world, but only with strong leadership in the White House,” Scott, who is also the former governor of Florida, wrote for Newsweek. “That is why I support my friend President Donald J. Trump to be the 47th president of the United States and encourage every Republican to unite behind his efforts to win back the White House.”
President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI) this week, and it was — at least partly — inspired by Tom Cruise. White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed revealed that the movie star’s latest installment of the “Mission: Impossible” series, which features sentient AI as the film’s villain, added to Biden’s worries about the futuristic technology. “If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about,” Reed said after watching the film with the president.
They’d better not show him Godzilla.
On Monday, the president signed what is likely the longest EO in history: The “Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” At more than 100 pages in length, the order lays out a framework of guardrails for AI research and development, and it comes as governments across the globe race to keep up with a technology that’s progressing at a near-exponential pace. But length is not a guarantor of efficacy, and it’s far from clear whether state actors will be able to effectively mitigate the risks posed by such an advanced technology.
