After US President Donald Trump came into power, the threat in the AI research agency has increased in the US as the administration has fired several National Science Foundation employees who had been specially selected for their special skills in artificial intelligence (AI).
As per the reports, in February, a total of 170 employees were fired at the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that has long been a linchpin of domestic technology research and investment. And Courtney Gibbons was one among the 170 employees who were fired.
She was focused on the research of the mathematical foundations of AI, research that can help to build the way for the next ChatGPT.
Further, under the NSF, the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships was also one of the affected departments, which is involved in funneling the government grants focused on AI.
Additionally, many review panels have been postponed or canceled due to the layoffs, stalling funding for some AI projects. According to industry watchers and current and former employees at the organization, these actions can pose a significant risk, undermining the industry’s most innovative companies and allowing China to take the lead in artificial intelligence.
This is particularly concerning given that President Donald Trump has prioritized strengthening U.S. AI supremacy, primarily through a deregulatory agenda.
Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stated that, “This directly contradicts other Trump administration priorities.”
He further added that, “Almost every employee with an advanced degree at every American AI firm has been a part of NSF-funded research at some point in their career. Cutting those grants is robbing the future to pay the present.”
However, many AI experts have criticized these actions of the Trump administration. Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer and Nobel Laureate, in his recent post on X, has called on Musk, stating that he should be fired from the British Royal Society “because of the huge damage he is doing to scientific institutions in the U.S.”
In the response to his post, Musk has replied to Hinton, saying that, “I will make mistakes, but endeavor to fix them.”
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