THE battle Between the White House and the University of Harvard, more than one freezing of federal funding of $ 2.2 billion and the ban on international students is not an isolated attack. This is part of a broader war in liberal higher education – and a warning sign of a broader world struggle.
A Federal Court decision Perhaps temporarily blocked the prohibition of students, but the message is clear: these attacks are ideological, deliberate and dangerous.
The 24 universities supporting the Harvard trial know that it is greater than campus policy. University emotional weakens one of the last independent institutions that shape the impact of AI on society.
By weakening the institutions that integrate human knowledge and ethical reasoning in AI, we risk creating a vacuum where technological power advances without significant verification, shaped by those who have the fastest resources, not necessarily the best intentions.
The language used in discussions on ethical AI – terms such as “procedural justice”, “informed consent” and “structural bias” – does not guide engineering laboratories, but human and social sciences. In the 1970s, the philosopher Tom Beauchamp helped audit the report of Belmont, the basis of modern medical ethics. The work of the legal scientist Alan Westin in Columbia shaped the 1974 law on the privacy of 1974 and the very concept that individuals should control their own data.
This intellectual infrastructure now underpins the most important IA governance executives in the world. Liberal arts specialists have helped shape the EU AI Trusted Trust Initiative And the principles of OECD 2019 OCE – Global Standards for the rule of law, transparency and responsibility. US universities have informed legislators, have marked AI companies on ethics and defended Democratized access to data sets Through the Bipartisan Create AI Act.
But American universities are faced with an assault. Since its inauguration, Trump has forbidden international students, cup programs in human sciences and human rights, and Frozen more than $ 5 billion in federal funding at leading universities Like Harvard.
These policies lead us to a future shaped by those who move the fastest and break the most.
Left to their own devices, private AI companies give lip service to ethical guarantees, but tend not to implement them. And several, like Google, Meta and Amazon, are Lobbying secretly against government regulations.
Rick Friedman / AFP / Getty images
This already creates real damage. Facial recognition software regularly discriminating Against women and people of color. Well-being system fueled by Denmark AI discriminate against The most vulnerable. In Florida, a 14 -year -old boy died by suicide After a link with a chatbot that would have included sexual content.
The risks make up when AI believes itself with disinformation,, militarizationor ideological extremism. All over the world, State And non-state actors explore how AI can be exploited for influence and control, sometimes beyond the public examination. THE Muslim World League (MWL) has also warned that groups like the Islamic State use AI to Recruit a new generation terrorists. Last month, the FBI warned Shols using vocal clones generated by AI to usurp the identity of senior American officials.
What is necessary is a wider and more inclusive AI ecosystem – the one that merges technical knowledge with ethical reasoning, various cultural voices and global cooperation.
Such models already exist. THE The Vatican Rome call to AI ethics Unite heads of technology and religious groups around shared values. In Latin America and Africa, basic coalitions such as Mozilla Foundation helped integrate community voices into national AI strategies.
For example, the secretary general of the MWL, Mohammad al-Issa, recently signed a long-term historical understanding of the president of the Duke University, aimed at strengthening interconfessional academic cooperation around shared global challenges. During the visit, Al-Issa also delivered an opening discourse on education, warning the risks posed by the extremists exploiting AI. Based on his work confronted with digital radicalization by groups like the Islamic State, he has become one of the rare world religious figures urging religious leaders to be directly involved in the formation of ethical development of AI.
The United States has long been an AI world leader because it is based on various intellectual and cultural resources. But this edge fades. China has triple Its universities since 1998 and paid billions in state -led AI research. The AI Act newly adopted by the EU is already reshaping the global regulatory landscape.
The world does not only need engineers, but ethilicts; Not just coders, but criticism. The technology industry can have the tools to build AI, but it is an academic who holds the moral compass to guide it.
If America continues to undermine its universities, it will not simply lose the technological race. He will lose his ability to direct the future of AI.
Professor Yu Xiong is a vice-president associate of the University of Surrey and founder of the Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaversse. He chaired the parliamentary group in the United Kingdom to the Metaversse and Web 3.0 Advisory Council.
The points of view expressed in this article are the own writers.
