Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The tech industry has pushed hard to partner with the federal government on everything from AI research to semiconductor manufacturing, but President Trump’s move to “temporarily” pause all federal grant funding threatens to slow or derail that work.
Why it matters: While many big tech companies are flush with cash, the industry relies on the government for a range of research funding, institutional coordination and other support.
State of play: The president’s move to freeze a wide array of federal grants — announced Monday but then put on hold by a federal judge late Tuesday — created confusion about both its breadth and its constitutionality.
- The uncertainty hit the tech industry in a variety of ways, throwing a number of projects into limbo.
Congressionally approved grants help fund a variety of wide range of tech projects including boosting U.S. chip manufacturing and an effort to “rip and replace” telecommunications gear from Huawei and other Chinese firms out of rural cellular networks.
- “That funding is now paused, leaving our rural small businesses in the dust and our telecommunications networks at risk,” the office of Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said in a statement on Monday, adding that Trump’s move “appeases China by allowing them to continue having a hold in our rural communication networks.”
- A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the administration’s funding freeze with a stay until Monday. But uncertainty at agencies and among grantees remains widespread.
Zoom in: The National Science Foundation and a host of tech companies big and small are investing in AI research.
- One big driver for the National AI Research Resource, an NSF project, was a sense of urgency to outcompete China.
- On Monday NSF told grantees they must comply with Trump’s various executive orders.
- “In particular, this may include, but is not limited to conferences, trainings, workshops, considerations for staffing and participant selection, and any other grant activity that uses or promotes the use of DEIA principles and frameworks or violates Federal anti-discrimination laws,” NSF said.
Between the lines: The Trump administration is targeting policies related to DEI, nongovernmental organizations, “the green new deal” and more.
- That could cover a host of NAIRR-backed projects that have to do with environmental sustainability or bias.
Among those is a project meant to ensure that large language models and image-generating models target digitally underrepresented groups and reduce bias against senior citizens.
- The project recognizes that AI models are more attuned to the digital behaviors of younger generations and could leave senior citizens feeling underserved.
Another project is meant to study AI energy efficiency and performance to reduce energy costs and drive policy decisions around resource management.
- Project leads emphasize the importance of environmental sustainability, noting that OpenAI’s GPT-3, for example, consumed over 500 tons of carbon during its training process alone.
- But University of Pennsylvania Professor Benjamin Lee, one of the project leads, said the project’s focus on the environment is secondary and its work might be safe, since AI energy demands continue to be relevant to the new administration.
- “My perspective is I’m waiting and seeing to see what specifics will come down the pipeline,” Lee said.
Yes, but: A different researcher on the same project — Carnegie Mellon University assistant professor Emma Strubell — said she is “extremely concerned, particularly for our work on environmental sustainability.”
- Strubell said of the administration’s moves: “Likely deliberate ambiguity to confuse, discourage, disorganize.”
