1
00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:07,240
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

2
00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,360
Speaker 2: The Trump Administration's focus on trade continues to impact tech companies.

3
00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,000
Speaker 2: Apple is seeking relief from President Trump's tariffs on goods

4
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,560
Speaker 2: imported from China with more investments in the US. Trump

5
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 2: also signed a memorandum on Friday to counter digital services

6
00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:27,160
Speaker 2: taxes some countries imposts on US tech giants. All of

7
00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:29,760
Speaker 2: this as the US is competing to lead the way

8
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,519
Speaker 2: in AI and quantum computing. Here to unpack the impact

9
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 2: of these developments is Victoria Espadel, CEO of the Business

10
00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,879
Speaker 2: Software Alliance. Victoria, It's pretty clear that President Trump has

11
00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,199
Speaker 2: declared himself pro innovation, pro technology, but what do you

12
00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:47,959
Speaker 2: make of the way he's going about it?

13
00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,159
Speaker 3: So, as you say, I think the administration has been

14
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,800
Speaker 3: really transparent about what their goals are in terms of

15
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,040
Speaker 3: innovation and competition, and it's interesting to see them approaching

16
00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,360
Speaker 3: it in a variety of different ways. Some are focus

17
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,840
Speaker 3: on trying to promote US industry, some are trying to

18
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,759
Speaker 3: are focused on trying to protect US industry. But you're

19
00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 3: seeing this across trade. I think you're going to see

20
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,679
Speaker 3: it in the AI Action Plan that the administration is

21
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,640
Speaker 3: going to be working on soon. We are hoping that

22
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,200
Speaker 3: quantum competitiveness will be part of what the White House

23
00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:17,960
Speaker 3: is focused on. So I think you're going to be

24
00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:19,480
Speaker 3: seeing this in a number of areas.

25
00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,080
Speaker 1: Your whole role is advancing enterprise software companies, leadership and

26
00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,840
Speaker 1: global policies. So how much are they having their voices

27
00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,319
Speaker 1: heard when we see the latest impact on Digital Services Act?

28
00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,160
Speaker 1: But then also what's happening with China and the impact

29
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:33,560
Speaker 1: that has on an Apple for example.

30
00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,640
Speaker 3: So it's you know, you raise a Digital Services Act.

31
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,280
Speaker 3: It's true that that's an act that has more of

32
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 3: a focus on social media companies, for example, rather than

33
00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,880
Speaker 3: enterprise software. There are, but there are so many impacts

34
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 3: that the atrump of administration can have I think, including

35
00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,520
Speaker 3: many in a positive way on enterprise software. Some of

36
00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,880
Speaker 3: the issues that are front of mind are not ones

37
00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,640
Speaker 3: that are going to be impacted by enterprise so for

38
00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,640
Speaker 3: exampleple speech issues. You know, there's a lot that's happening

39
00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:08,480
Speaker 3: that's really positive from AI enterprise and AI software that's

40
00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,359
Speaker 3: not going to be impacted by those. But on the

41
00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,359
Speaker 3: other hand, I think the administration has a real opportunity

42
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,720
Speaker 3: to lead in terms of digital trade. I think they

43
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 3: have a real opportunity to lead in terms of AI adoption.

44
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,080
Speaker 3: And you know, there's so much there's so much focus

45
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,080
Speaker 3: and attention to building the large LM models, and of

46
00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,519
Speaker 3: course that's important, but what we really need to have

47
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:34,720
Speaker 3: the broadest positive economic impact is AI adoption across a

48
00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,000
Speaker 3: wide range of industries. And that is something that I

49
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:40,359
Speaker 3: think there's real potential for the administration to take the

50
00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:40,720
Speaker 3: lead on.

51
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,560
Speaker 1: And companies have been trying to think of Microsoft and

52
00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,480
Speaker 1: really focusing in on the consumer applications with the mastaff

53
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,640
Speaker 1: are soonly went to high for example, and proportion of

54
00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,600
Speaker 1: him Victoria. What is it then the companies that you're

55
00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,320
Speaker 1: talking with, and that companies currently are trying to navigate

56
00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,000
Speaker 1: and maybe be politicking as we see with Tim Cook,

57
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,800
Speaker 1: how what do they really want? Is it clarity or

58
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:03,440
Speaker 1: is it actually that they do want change here?

59
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,560
Speaker 3: So let's talk about AI and what's happening in AI

60
00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,359
Speaker 3: regulation And I would say, you know, speaking for enterprise software,

61
00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,240
Speaker 3: I think there are at a broad level, there are

62
00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,800
Speaker 3: three things that we want. First, we are pro regulation.

63
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,440
Speaker 3: We think it makes sense to have regulation. What we

64
00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,480
Speaker 3: don't want is bad regulation. And what I would characterize

65
00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 3: bad regulation is regulation that's unworkable regulation that is addressing

66
00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,280
Speaker 3: the wrong issues, So I think that's important. Second, there

67
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,000
Speaker 3: needs to be clarity. One of the hindreds is the

68
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 3: innovation we have right now is there's so much churn

69
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,600
Speaker 3: in the system. Is regulation coming is it not? Who

70
00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:41,840
Speaker 3: will it apply to? Who will it want? And that

71
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,320
Speaker 3: is an enormous drag on a company's ability to innovate

72
00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,960
Speaker 3: and plan forward. And then the third thing that we

73
00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,440
Speaker 3: need is consistency. The thing that is even worse than

74
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:56,240
Speaker 3: lack of clarity is inconsistency across different laws being passed

75
00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,920
Speaker 3: by the US States, different laws being passed by other

76
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,920
Speaker 3: countries that are in conflict for on one another. And

77
00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,840
Speaker 3: that is even more of a problem if you are

78
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,240
Speaker 3: a small company, that is going to have even more

79
00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,160
Speaker 3: difficulty dealing with those. So no bad regulation, clarity and

80
00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,680
Speaker 3: consistency are three things that are critical if we are

81
00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:17,000
Speaker 3: going to continue to move forward.

82
00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,359
Speaker 2: Victoria, you mentioned the small players. A lot of the

83
00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,080
Speaker 2: headlines come from the big tech giants, But what do

84
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,680
Speaker 2: some of the policies that you're thinking about, How would

85
00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,279
Speaker 2: that affect perhaps some of the smaller technology companies. Would

86
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:31,640
Speaker 2: it only benefit the large incumbents.

87
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:32,400
Speaker 1: No.

88
00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,279
Speaker 3: I think actually, in many cases the biggest positive impact

89
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,479
Speaker 3: will be on the smaller companies, so they won't be

90
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,160
Speaker 3: held down by, for example, unworkable or inconsistent regulation. I mean,

91
00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,240
Speaker 3: there's so much happening in the AI policy space, but

92
00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:50,720
Speaker 3: here are two things that I would emphasize, and I

93
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,200
Speaker 3: think these will have an impact on all companies, including

94
00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,680
Speaker 3: and perhaps in particular small companies. One is at the

95
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,239
Speaker 3: federal level. So in terms of what's happening here in Washington, DC,

96
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,560
Speaker 3: a focus on promoting AI adoption is something that we're

97
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,080
Speaker 3: expecting to see and there's been support for that in

98
00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,600
Speaker 3: the past, but we're expecting a lot more activity this

99
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,400
Speaker 3: year coming year on AI adoption. But the second thing

100
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,160
Speaker 3: I would say is that any company that wants to

101
00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,040
Speaker 3: understand what is happening in AI regulation right now has

102
00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,200
Speaker 3: to be looking at what is happening in the states.

103
00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,400
Speaker 3: There is the US States. There's a tremendous amount of

104
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,200
Speaker 3: activity there. We're very focused there. You had Colorado pass

105
00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,640
Speaker 3: the first comprehensive AI law last year, but now you

106
00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,599
Speaker 3: have Texas, Connecticut, Virginia, California. They all want to be next,

107
00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,320
Speaker 3: and that the states are going to move legislation and regulation.

108
00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,200
Speaker 3: So when you talk about all companies, but in particular

109
00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:52,359
Speaker 3: small companies trying to deal with this the regulation that's coming,

110
00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,560
Speaker 3: and trying to deal with inconsistencies that we may see there.

111
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,040
Speaker 3: If that comes to pass, that is going to be

112
00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,560
Speaker 3: a big drag on innovation points.

113
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,600
Speaker 1: Victoria Espanel from the Business Software Alliance, thanks so much

114
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:04,200
Speaker 1: for joining us.