Gina Raimondo
Former US Commerce Secretary
US Commerce Secretary from 2021 to 2025 who became America’s point person on AI — standing up the US AI Safety Institute and arguing that “safety breeds trust” which in turn speeds adoption and innovation.
In her words
Safety is good for innovation. Safety breeds trust. Trust speeds adoption. Adoption leads to more innovation. We need that virtuous cycle.
It is paramount that we get this right and that we do so in concert with our partners around the world to ensure the rules of the road on AI are written by societies that uphold human rights.
Biography
Gina Raimondo (born 1971) is a venture capitalist turned Democratic politician who served as governor of Rhode Island before becoming US Secretary of Commerce from 2021 to 2025. In that role she emerged, somewhat unexpectedly, as the federal government’s central figure on artificial intelligence.
America’s point woman on AI
Under President Biden’s October 2023 executive order, Commerce became the de facto authority over general-purpose AI systems, and Raimondo used the mandate to build the US AI Safety Institute inside NIST — developing evaluation standards for frontier models and, in November 2024, convening an International Network of AI Safety Institutes. She simultaneously ran CHIPS Act implementation and tightened export controls on the advanced chips that power AI, casting American AI leadership as both an economic and national-security priority.
For the United States to lead the world in the development of safe, responsible AI, we need the brightest minds at the helm.
Her framing was pro-innovation rather than restrictionist: the AI Safety Institute existed, she argued, precisely so that trustworthy systems could be adopted faster, not slowed down. She nonetheless told NPR in May 2024 that “Congress needs to act” on binding AI rules. Her term ended with the change of administration in January 2025; the Safety Institute she founded has since been reorganized under her successors.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/gina-raimondo