US president also issues executive order officially rebranding ‘artificial intelligence’ as ‘superintelligence’

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a “morally binding” agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. He announced the deal, called the Joint Commitment On Frontier Responsibilities, following a White House luncheon with top tech executives.

“It’s almost like a constitution in a way, and the biggest ​people in the world signed that, and ​I signed it as president, and it really ⁠is a form of protection,” Trump said.

Today’s wealth gap is much bigger, and the country’s richest have much more power than they once did. It’s an Age of Oligarchy

For many, the era of US history that most resembles contemporary America is easy to identify: the Gilded Age.

It is, in certain ways, an apt comparison. Like modern America, the Gilded Age saw a small number of men tower over US politics and industry alike. Rising atop a swell of wealth inequality, figures like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller mixed private interests with public policy, opening doors in Washington and beyond with ease. Their model is a clear precedent for figures such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and more.