Xue Lan, Dean of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University
■China Economic Times reporter Zhao Shan
The 2024 Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum was held in Beijing on March 24. At the symposium on the development and governance of artificial intelligence, Xue Lan, dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, said that the development of artificial intelligence faces a series of risks that need to be guarded against. From the perspective of AI governance, there are five challenges.
The first challenge is the problem of inconsistency. The technology of artificial intelligence is developing very fast, but the construction of the governance system is relatively slow.
The second challenge is information asymmetry. Many surveys have found that there are many blind spots on both the government and enterprises. First, companies don't know what the government's regulatory concerns are, and secondly, the government doesn't know what risks technology development might bring, and many companies don't know either.
The third challenge is that from the perspective of regulation, the cost is asymmetrical in the process of risk regulation. For example, the technical cost of AI if it is abused or misused is quite low, but it is very difficult to prevent this risk. The cost of risk prevention is much higher than the cost of the harm it may cause, so the cost of risk management is higher.
The fourth challenge is in the area of global governance. People who do global governance often mention the problem of the witty complex, and it may be that for a certain problem, enterprises, organizations, and governments are very concerned about it, and they all want to take some measures to solve it. Professional organizations, international organizations, foundations, enterprises, etc., all have a certain interest in the governance of a certain issue, and even they have the ability and conditions to do so. However, there is no subordinate relationship between all these organizations, but there are overlapping and even contradictory institutions with each other, all of them have a relevant interest in a certain issue, and want to participate in governance, which makes it very difficult to form a global governance system.
The fifth challenge is governance in the field of artificial intelligence, which must involve the cooperation of the United States and China, but the current geopolitics will also bring some corresponding problems.
How to solve these problems? Xue Lan put forward the following five suggestions.
First, it is necessary to strengthen security and technology. At present, research and development in the field of security is insufficient, and in the future there is a need to strengthen research, especially international cooperation. Second, address governance issues through agile governance. Third, encourage self-regulation by enterprises. It is always difficult for external regulation to solve the problem of information asymmetry, and the establishment of some mechanisms for self-regulation within enterprises should be advocated. Fourth, strengthen international governance. In the area of global governance, the United Nations has just adopted an agreement and convened high-level expert discussions. Fifth, solve geopolitical problems. In the field of artificial intelligence, China and the United States must strengthen cooperation so that we can truly solve the various problems facing mankind.
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