{"id":660,"date":"2025-04-04T20:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T20:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techrepublic.com\/?p=4301181"},"modified":"2025-04-04T20:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T20:45:16","slug":"were-the-white-houses-tariffs-calculations-done-by-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tecnoartesanos.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/04\/were-the-white-houses-tariffs-calculations-done-by-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Were the White House\u2019s Tariffs Calculations Done By AI?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Industrial
Image: kckate16\/Envato Elements<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Questions have swirled as to whether the U.S. government relied on generative AI to establish the tariffs that are expected to take effect April 5. When asked to calculate global tariffs, AI models including OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT, Google\u2019s Gemini, xAI\u2019s Grok, and Anthropic\u2019s Claude all produced the same formula reportedly used by President Donald Trump in his newly unveiled trade reforms.<\/p>\n

Critics argue<\/a> that tasking a generative AI with formulating a policy decision of global significance sets an alarming precedent \u2014 one that underscores both the superficiality of its calculations and the magnitude of its consequences.<\/p>\n

Increased U.S. tariffs<\/a> could significantly raise the cost of consumer and business electronics.<\/p>\n

<\/span>AI returns similar output to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative\u2019s calculations<\/span><\/h2>\n

Early on April 3, economist James Surowiecki posted his investigation into the tariffs<\/a>. The White House set out to impose \u201creciprocal tariffs.\u201d However, Surowiecki noted, the document from the Office of the United States Trade Representative showing the equation used to determine those tariffs divides the U.S. trade deficit by each country\u2019s exports to the U.S. This, Suroweicki said, is not reciprocal.<\/p>\n

Economist Wojtek Kopczuk asked ChatGPT to calculate tariffs to balance out the U.S. trade deficit. He received a similar answer<\/a> to the White House\u2019s documentation, showing the AI used \u201ca basic approach\u201d that divided the trade deficit by the total trade. Entrepreneur Amy Hoy ran a similar experiment<\/a>, yielding identical results from AI models.<\/p>\n

The White House has not made a statement regarding potential AI use in the creation of the equation used to calculate the tariffs. So, we don\u2019t know whether the equation was generated by AI or what prompt may have been used to create it; however, the uniform and straightforward response to a complex economic issue does bear the hallmarks of generative AI.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk, CEO of Grok maker xAI, is currently serving as a special government employee to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n