Opportunities and risks in the development of artificial intelligence in the United States

Since the beginning of this year, marked by the launch of the phenomenal generative artificial intelligence product ChatGPT by the Open Artificial Intelligence Research Center (Open AI), major technology companies in the United States have followed suit. With this round of artificial intelligence blowout development, opportunities and risks and challenges "dance" together.

As the main federal funding agency for basic research in artificial intelligence, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Foundation believes that promoting the development of artificial intelligence requires not only huge scientific research investment, but also the establishment of a strong and sustainable artificial intelligence innovation ecology that matches it, effectively transforming basic research results, and integrating the benign interaction between industry, education and research. In the past three years, the agency has led the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in about 20 national artificial intelligence research institutes to support special scientific research projects in different fields.

Based on the rapid development and potential risks of artificial intelligence technology, the White House, Congress and a series of federal agencies have promulgated or proposed a series of relevant policies, laws or plans.

The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, enacted in January 2021, aims to strengthen and coordinate AI R&D activities among federal agencies and ensure U.S. leadership in global AI technology. According to this bill, the United States established the Office of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative, subordinate to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, to oversee and implement the US National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

The U.S. Congress has also revised and improved existing laws to support the application of artificial intelligence in various fields. For example, when passing the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, Congress added "recommendations that the FAA regularly review the state of AI in aviation and take the necessary steps to respond to new developments"; The last Congress also introduced the Advancing American Artificial Intelligence Act and the Artificial Intelligence Training Act. The current Congress is also preparing to enact new laws to deal with new developments in the field of artificial intelligence.

The National Strategic Plan for AI R&D, revised by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2023, also emphasizes the importance of international cooperation. The strategy contains four priorities: fostering a global culture and developing global partnerships for the development and use of trusted AI; supporting the establishment of global AI systems, standards and frameworks; Strengthen international exchanges in professional fields; Advancing AI for the benefit of global goals. The document also proposes to assess federal agencies' implementation of the National AI Initiative Act of 2020 and the National Strategic Plan for AI R&D.

U.S. companies are also stepping up their investments in artificial intelligence.

In the case of prominent downward pressure on the economy and the clouds of layoffs, Microsoft still strengthens investment in areas such as artificial intelligence that are expected to be "long-term growth" and has "long-term competitiveness", continues to "bet" on Open AI, and its largest strategic investment in tens of billions of dollars at the beginning of this year, and after the launch of ChatGPT, quickly integrates its functions into Microsoft's search, office software and other products, becoming the biggest winner of the first wave of artificial intelligence.

In response to Microsoft's strong layout, Google has been working hard to comprehensively upgrade the artificial intelligence chatbot Bard to fight back. According to relevant reports, Google has also carried out a major department reorganization, using achievements in the field of generative artificial intelligence to strengthen product functions such as Google Intelligent Assistant.

In addition, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Company, said a few days ago that the company has been building advanced infrastructure for artificial intelligence for many years and is currently more focused on artificial intelligence. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also announced the creation of an artificial intelligence company xAI. Industry commentators said that with his consistent "unconventional" style, Musk's addition will inject new impetus and provide new direction for this artificial intelligence "gold rush".

As the frontier of AI research shifts to compute-intensive large-language models such as ChatGPT, high-performance graphics processing unit (GPU) chips become the basis for training models. The strong demand for advanced chips has made chip companies led by NVIDIA highly popular. Recently, NVIDIA's stock price has climbed all the way to the trillion-dollar market capitalization "club". Chip maker AMD has also joined the AI chip competition, recently announcing an increase in the production of new AI chips to challenge NVIDIA's dominance in this emerging market.

In the context of rapid iteration and fierce competition in this round of artificial intelligence technology, the construction of a regulatory system is also imminent.

In terms of risk management, in October 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released the blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights. The document mainly involves five contents: "safe and effective systems, algorithm discrimination protection, data privacy, notification and explanation, and manual alternatives", which clearly requires that users should be aware of the automated system they are using and its impact and results, and can independently opt out and switch to manual replacement systems.

According to the National Strategic Plan for Artificial Intelligence R&D, artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful technologies of this era. To seize the opportunities presented by AI, potential risks must be proactively managed up front. The federal government plays a key role in this process, including by investing wisely in research and development and promoting responsible innovation.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology released a report in 2019 announcing U.S. plans to participate in the development of technical standards and related tools. The agency also put forward a series of recommendations in its "AI Risk Management Framework" to promote the development of national AI standards and regulate the development of AI leading enterprises.

While all walks of life are rapidly promoting the development of artificial intelligence, how to work together, reach consensus, improve relevant laws and regulations, formulate scientific and industrial policies, standardize the application of rules and standards, and avoid potential risks of artificial intelligence in safety and ethics has become a practical challenge facing people. With the continuous strengthening of machine learning algorithms, artificial intelligence has gradually entered the field of social services, and the impact of its "algorithm black box" on social justice and stability also needs urgent attention.

U.S. Federal Trade Commission President Lena Khan stressed the need to strengthen regulation of generative AI. She believes that artificial intelligence technology has exposed the signs of risk, the dominance of technology giants is strengthening, large language model training data is not censored, there are huge bias, privacy leakage and other risks.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Jensler believes that artificial intelligence is the most transformative technology of this era. As in many periods of change in history, at the macro level, AI technology will seriously challenge the existing social order; If a few AI platforms become industry-led, it will affect the overall stability of society.

In this regard, the US government recently interviewed leading companies in the field of artificial intelligence. Congress also plans to enact laws to regulate the development of artificial intelligence, and some lawmakers have jointly proposed the creation of a new federal agency responsible for artificial intelligence regulation. Major AI companies such as Open AI, Microsoft, and Google said they would develop AI technology responsibly.

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