David Leslie, director of ethics and responsible innovation research at the Alan Turing Institute, the United Kingdom centre for data science and AI, cautions that using data that was initially biased against marginalised groups could create revisionist histories or false memories for those communities. Nor can “simply generating something from AI” help to remedy or reclaim historical narratives, he insists.
As the policy remains foggy, Chinese students in the US said they are monitoring the often fickle winds of the Trump administration.Su, a 23-year-old applied analytics graduate student at Columbia University, said she swiftly changed her plans to travel home to China this summer amid the uncertainty.
“I was afraid if I go back to China, I won’t be able to come back to the US for when classes begin,” said Su, who asked to only use her last name given the “sensitive” situation.“When Trump announces something, we never know if it’s going to be effective or not,” she told Al Jazeera. “It’s always changing”.Deng, a graduate student at Georgetown who also asked that his full name not be used, said he broadly agreed that reforms were needed to address issues related to Chinese influence in US academia.
Those included intimidation of political dissidents, the spread of nationalist propaganda, and “oligarchy corruption”, he said.But, in an email to Al Jazeera, he said the administration’s approach was misguided.
“The current measures not only do not achieve such goals,” he said, “but [are] also generating unnecessary fear even among the Chinese student communities that have long been fully committed to the development and enrichment of US society.”
By contrast, about six out of 10 LGBTQ adults said gay and lesbian people are generally accepted in the US.The proposal was drafted by Republican legislators in the Ways and Means Committee, the oldest tax-writing body in the House.
“For too long, universities have received beneficial treatment from our tax code while disregarding the interest of taxpayers,” Jason Smith, Missouri Republican and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said shortly after the bill passed.A fact sheet released by Smith says the tax “holds woke, elite universities that operate more like major corporations and other tax-exempt entities accountable”.
The bill is now headed to the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats and Democrats hold 47. It is unclear when the vote will take place, but Trump is urging Republican senators to promptly pass it.On May 22, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Thank you to every Republican who voted YES on this Historic Bill! Now, it’s time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!”