The Tech Policy Press Podcast How Trump's AI Policy Promotes Ethnonationalism
Jan 18, 2026
Spencer Overton, a law professor and expert on voting rights, dives into the troubling intersection of AI policy and ethnonationalism under the Trump administration. He discusses how the removal of bias safeguards in AI promotes exclusion and perpetuates racial inequality. Overton outlines the harms of unregulated AI, including deception and homogenization. He also highlights federal uses of AI and their societal implications, calls for an Equitable AI Act, and argues for maintaining pluralism while regulating technology to ensure fairness.
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AI Policy As Ethno-Nationalist Tool
- Spencer Overton argues the Trump administration's AI policy intentionally aligns with an ethno-nationalist agenda by removing bias safeguards.
- Reframing civil-rights protections as ideological constraints embeds exclusion into future tech infrastructure.
Four Democratic Harms From Unregulated AI
- Overton defines four harms from unregulated AI: bias, homogenization, deception, and manipulation.
- He highlights homogenization as a distinct pluralism problem that averages away cultural difference.
The George Washington Image Flashpoint
- Overton recounts Google Gemini producing a Black George Washington after fixes to racial errors in earlier tools drew political backlash.
- That backlash led the administration to ban bias-reduction fine-tuning for federal procurement.