By Ray Cardello for May 8, 2023, Season 19 / Post 23

Kamala Harris has failed every task assigned to her as Vice President. Border policy, voting rights, abortion, and even water policy have all been placed in her in-basket, and she has yet to respond. Harris was an unpopular AG in California. Her Senate career was a “whatever is popular” approach, often contradicting her AG decisions. Her Presidential run was a failure. She was polarizing in debates, sparring with Gabbard and even calling Biden a racist and sex offender. Harsh words for her future running mate. She dropped out of the race before the first primary vote was cast. With her record, you know the only reason she is VP is color and gender. Her performance has been consistent in the second chair-consistently inadequate.

There have been two problems with her approach to any of her assignments-incompetence and laziness. When she has shown a weakness in grasping the task, she has done little to get up to speed. Instead, she disappears and, at times, complains about her role.

“What can be, unburdened by what has been” is a line she has used in over eight speaking engagements, and still, nobody, including Harris, understands what she is talking about. This is the story of Kamala’s speaking record. She delivers a word salad every opportunity she has to speak and show the world that she is on her game. Her incoherent ramblings only serve to embarrass the VP and supply fodder for late-night shows.

That brings us to the latest assignment for Kamala Harris as the AI czar and will oversee an effort to ensure the technology is developed responsibly. This job will require a knowledge of what AI is, its capabilities, and how it impacts society and security. Sorry, but this is doomed from the start. She is in over her head and best disappear immediately.

AI is not a new technology; many of us have experienced its impact, even if unaware. One of the most common AI functions is a grammar/writing application like Grammarly. As you type, the app is sitting in the background, not only catching spelling and punctuation errors but suggesting better sentence and paragraph structure. It is like having an assistant sitting next to you-an AI assistant. Each day, we hear of new capabilities, and the speed at which AI is progressing has caught the attention of some of the smartest among us. Even Elon Musk has suggested that research and development of AI take a six-month hiatus. The experts fear that AI is taking on a life of its own and man will lose control of the tool. They know there is a potential dark side to the technology that can harm the public at the hands of someone nefarious.

Of course, a technology break would never happen, and there is no way you could get the world to agree to a cease-fire. AI is a speeding train, and there is no stopping it and, quite possibly, no controlling it. So what can our hapless Vice President do to regulate it? Nothing. This assignment appears to be the government putting itself in the way of the free market. The only thing the government should do is protect us from a foreign adversary using AI against America or Americans. She is not the person for this job. Even if there were a miracle and she understood AI, there is no way she could intervene in an adversarial interaction. She is an insignificant speed bump when the country may need a strong firewall.