The AI Senate Hearings touch on AI Warfare. China, Russia, and “Rivals” Were Mentioned More Than Once at the Hearings
Beyond safety concerns, US lawmakers want to make sure rivals like China and Russia don’t steal their competitive advantage. The concept of AI Warfare has been mentioned cautiously once by the end of the hearing, as Senator Blumenthal admitted it has been a topic in Washington.
China over-regulates public use of AI. Responses from Artificial Intelligence need to be “in line with party doctrine”. This means Chinese companies will only use data on their side of the firewall to build the AIs they release to the public.
Russia has similar concerns, with the country scrambling to restrict their own Sbersbank’s AIs, after they gave what feels to them like Western-friendly responses.
When it comes to AI deployment, the two Eastern rivals don’t seem to have any edge, neither in technical innovation nor in superior legal framework. The potential was there and they were mentioned at the hearing multiple times. Commentators have said that Congress is less concerned about commercial use of AI, and more concerned about unmanned, autonomous weaponry.
Summarized, the US Congress wants to make sure they don’t over-regulate, while other countries allow for more innovation.
“The Chinese are insisting that AI being developed in China, reinforces the core values of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese system. And I’m concerned about how we promote AI that reinforces and strengthens open markets, open societies, and democracy,” Senator Coon told the audience.
In fact, the different approaches to AI integration of the competitor countries show core, unyielding differences in values.
A World Organization To Regulate AI Doesn’t Necessarily Include China
One important aspect of regulating AI is international cooperation. In his opening statement, Gary Marcus discussed creating a global organization similar to CERN, international and neutral, that would oversee AI safety.
Such a global organization would objectively create a better background for innovation, as the tech industry needs to create development standards, dictate interoperability and connect together.
“This world organization that doesn’t exist, maybe it will, but if you don’t do something about the China part of it, you’ll never quite get this right. Do you agree?” Senator Lindsey Graham asked Altman.
“Well, that’s why I think it doesn’t necessarily have to be a world organization, but there has to be some sort of (and there’s a lot of options here)... there has to be some sort of standard, some sort of set of controls that do have a global effect.”
It’s not the first time Altman has been discussing China. In a Bloomberg interview this spring, the OpenAI CEO said this:
“There are a lot of people who make incredibly strong statements about what China will and won’t do that have never been to China, never spoken to someone who has worked on China diplomacy in the past. They know nothing about complex high-stakes international relations. I think nobody wants to destroy the whole world and there is reasons to at least try here.”
On More Than Just Rivalry. Warfare
There was a chilling mention of AI warfare applications, with autonomous weapons controlled by AI instead of humans already being discussed at the AI Congress meeting. Apparently, the Defense Innovation Unit in the US already built ties with companies in Silicon Valley and signed more contracts over the span of one month than they did in years.
Sam Altman does admit that although we shouldn’t allow AIs to autonomously fly drones and drop missiles on enemy countries, this could virtually be done.
“As a member of the Armed Service Committee classified briefings on this issue have abounded and the threats that are posed by some of our adversaries. China has been mentioned here, but the sources of threats to this nation in this space are very real and urgent,” Senator Blumenthal said at the closing of the meeting.
The Senator hinted at a race between the United States, China, and Russia for the integration of AI warfare capabilities. Vladimir Putin formerly said that whoever becomes the leader in the sphere of AI will become the ruler of the world.
Of all the things we humans need to automate, dropping bombs on rivals can probably be the last. The hearing raised issues on the bias, hallucinations, mistakes from AIs that make it unsuitable to sort through resumes or admission papers. It’s easy to assume this technology shouldn’t be market-ready for battleground decision-making either.