ChatGPT told Trump how to set tariffs – and now the world’s paying for it
“Vibe-Governing” suggests policymakers are letting AI-generated content guide major economic or political decisions, leading us into surreal, potentially dangerous territory.
On April 3, 2025 – Trump’s so-called “liberation day” – the penguins of Heard Island awoke to find themselves unexpectedly subject to US trade tariffs.
Indeed, all of Australia’s external territories, inhabited or not, were swept up in Trump’s latest lash out at the world. Norfolk Island (population 2188), despite having no known exports to the US, received a bewildering 29 per cent tariff.
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Rebecca Johnson is an expert on the ethics of Large Language Models and Generative AI. She spent a year at Google Research in the Ethical AI team and Responsible AI division, and is a final year PhD researcher at The University of Sydney. Email Rebecca at rebecca.johnson@sydney.edu.au
