I'm 18 and part of a generation that grew up with technology at my fingertips. Once seen as mere toys or entertainment machines, AI now powers systems that pass the bar exam, write code, and reshape global economies. In 2025, as a Trump administration leads and a Republican Congress follows, AI is redefining our world—and the policy implications are higher than ever.

The Republican perspective on AI is clear: innovation, national security, and staying ahead in the global AI race against foreign adversaries like China. There’s an urgency to ensure the U.S. leads the world in AI development — through investment, deregulation, and a hands-off approach that trusts a free and liberalized market to find the best way forward. And, with that, I agree. In many ways, it’s an exciting vision, one that bets big on human ingenuity and technological progress in this new age of AI power. 

Yet, as thrilling as this race for dominance may be, it comes with undeniable risks. A purely deregulated approach could open the floodgates to unchecked innovation, where ethical boundaries are blurred and the pursuit of profit overshadows public good. Most concerning of all, the absence of meaningful oversight could allow AI to outpace our ability to control it—turning today’s competitive edge into tomorrow’s existential threat.

Let’s be honest: we can expect that the incoming administration isn’t going to roll out sweeping federal regulations. Instead, we’re likely to see a focus on voluntary industry standards, partnerships with tech giants, and policies that prioritize job creation and national security. In fact, on day 2 of his presidency, Trump, alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, unveiled “The Stargate Project,” a joint $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure by 2029. 

So, instead, what should we focus on? 

For starters, workforce development. Automation is no distant threat but one already here, transforming industries and displacing traditional jobs with menial tasks. If we want to win bipartisan support for AI policies, investing in reskilling programs is a strong first step. I imagine an American future where losing a job to AI automation isn’t a dead-end for workers but rather an opportunity to grow into a new career, where AI supplements one’s existing skill set, not supplants it.

And then there’s national security, a top priority for the Trump-Vance administration. AI has enormous potential to strengthen our defenses, from predictive cybersecurity to autonomous surveillance. But, the same technology can also be weaponized, threatening global peace and stability. To resolve this, international cooperation becomes even more critical. Even within an “America First” policy ecosystem that Trump champions, the U.S. can lead efforts to establish guardrails around high-risk AI applications, like banning fully autonomous weapons and setting standards for responsible AI use in warfare to denuclearize. The catch here is that even Democrats can agree on setting ethical boundaries for AI in warfare, even if their motivations — national security for conservatives and global stability for progressives — differ.

And yet, the administration’s approach to AI governance thus far seems to lean on the idea that we can maintain leadership by simply keeping our foot on the gas, resisting the kind of safeguards that might slow us down. Vance criticized Europe’s regulatory frameworks as innovation-killing red tape, and while there’s truth to the idea that overregulation can stifle progress, what’s missing from this conversation is urgency. Betting solely on deregulation and ideological neutrality while the risks compound feels, at best, like wishful thinking. That’s why communities like ours here in Ithaca have a unique role to play. If the federal government stalls in action, then the baton is passed down to states like New York and local communities to lead the charge for responsible innovation.

At an organization I help lead called Encode, we’ve spent years thinking about how to make AI safer and more fair at the community-level. We know that young people like us have a unique stake in these conversations — we’re the ones who will live and grapple with the consequences of today’s decisions. Knowing so, we must embrace the enormous transformative potential this political moment presents while also staying laser-focused on protecting people’s lives and livelihoods. 

I strongly believe that AI is more than just a piece of technological innovation but rather the world it’s helping us build together. In 2025, under a Republican administration and Congress, we have a chance to shape that world in a way that reflects our own shared values right here in Ithaca— things like freedom, accountability, safety, democracy, human connection, and so much more. We can choose to see this moment as an impasse — or as an opportunity to innovate responsibly and govern wisely. And, if we get it right, the next decade won’t just be a chapter of technological progress but a story of human flourishing, too.