Biden Admin. Weighs Possible Rules for AI Tools

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Facts

• The US Dept. of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on Tuesday invited the public to comment on what role the federal government can play to ensure Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms are behaving as they are intended and not causing harm.¹
• The Biden admin.'s move comes amid a boom in the use of AI tools that can quickly generate writing, images, and videos designed to mimic human creation. OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT has reportedly reached 100M users faster than any consumer app in history.²
• The Commerce Dept. said it will spend the next 60 days fielding opinions on the possibility of AI audits, with Assistant Commerce Sec. and administrator of the NTIA Alan Davidson saying, 'There is a heightened level of concern now.'³
• AI is also being scrutinized in China, with Beijing planning to require a security review of generative AI services before they're allowed to operate. The PRC is demanding providers of services ensure content is accurate, respects intellectual property, doesn't discriminate, and doesn't jeopardize security.⁴
• Tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Deep Learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio —  coordinated by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute — have recently called for a six-month moratorium on the development of AI more powerful than GPT-4. They warn that a race between OpenAI and competitors may be occurring without adequate management or planning for potential risks.⁵

Sources: ¹Axios, ²Wall Street Journal (a), ³News and star, ⁴Bloomberg and ⁵Wall Street Journal (b).

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Guardian. This is a responsible move by the administration. We cannot afford to waste time addressing the challenges posed by artificial intelligence. The development of this technology is unlike anything we've seen before, and incorrectly designed or managed artificial intelligence poses a fundamental risk to human civilization. We need to be proactive rather than reactive when regulating AI.
• Narrative B, as provided by Reuters. AI is the future, and pausing or otherwise trying to set back its development won't solve any problems. AI offers a revolutionary means to address some of the world's biggest challenges, including inequity and even climate change, and it must be used for this. Rather than trying to reign it in, we simply need to identify the tricky areas of the technology and work harder to improve them.

Predictions