Salazar Declares Trump to be 'Ahead of the Game' on AI, Says it Must be 'In the Hands of the U.S.'

Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) discussed President Trump's announcement of a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) in a recent appearance on Fox Business's Evening Edit, saying the President is "ahead of the game" on such technology, adding that "AI has to be in the hands of the United States."

Additionally, Rep. Salazar emphasized the importance of beating China in AI development, adding that "if we, the United States, the most benevolent country on Earth, owns that space, we are going to be able to then do medical miracles, we are going to be able to improve our economy."

"That is why Trump is ahead of the game, just like in almost everything else with the 42 executive orders he just signed," Rep. Salazar continued.

The initiative put forward by the Trump Administration is named Stargate. It will begin with an initial $100 billion for building data centers in the United States, starting in Texas.

The CEOs of several tech companies, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, attended the initial announcement. The latter said, "We wouldn't have decided to do this unless you [Trump] won."

Stargate seeks to advance AI in the realms of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which means the ability for an AI to think like a human mind, medical records analysis, and energy grid management. These could all provide thousands of jobs.

Salazar has shown interest in AI, namely in curbing its use for malicious purposes, having introduced a bill in May that would punish the posing of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII, or "revenge porn," a phenomenon exacerbated by "deepfake" artificial intelligence) to social media, requiring companies to remove such images upon notice and providing legal protection to victims.

"The alarming rise of deepfakes is threatening to destroy innocent individuals' and families' lives. Non-consensual deepfake imagery is a cancer that can no longer go untreated," the Florida Congresswoman previously said.