CES 2020: Rules To Govern AI Proposed By White House

The White House is to use the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas to propose regulatory principles to govern the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).

The regulatory principles are designed to prevent “overeach” by authorities, and the White House also wants European officials to likewise avoid aggressive approaches, Reuters reported.

Rules concerning the ethical use of artificial intelligence have long been considered by authorities. This was evidenced in 2015 when study by researchers at Arizona State University concluded that using AI algorithms to study patterns and behaviour of IS extremists could be of “significant” help for both the US military and policymakers in the future.

Regulatory principles

For years the US and its allies have employed forms of pattern-of-life analysis to determine threat levels of potential targets for its hunter-killer drones.

But now the White House’s Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer of the United States, is expected to talk about the administration’s AI strategy at the CES trade show in Las Vegas later this week.

Reuters reported that the White House fact sheet on the subject says that federal agencies should “conduct risk assessment and cost-benefit analyses prior to any regulatory action on AI, with a focus on establishing flexible frameworks rather than one-size-fits-all regulation.”

The Trump administration reportedly said agencies should “promote trustworthy AI” and “must consider fairness, non-discrimination, openness, transparency, safety, and security.”

The White House reportedly cited example of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is currently considering how to regulate the use of AI and machine learning technologies by medical device manufacturers.

“Europe and our allies should avoid heavy handed innovation-killing models,” the White House reportedly said. “The best way to counter authoritarian uses of AI is to make sure America and our international partners remain the global hubs of innovation.”

The European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence in 2019 issued a set of ethical guidelines and European Union leaders are considering regulatory action, Reuters said.

AI concerns

The White House intervention on AI comes as companies increasingly look to integrate AI and machine learning into their business structures.

But the use of AI has long raised both control, privacy, cyber security and its impact on people’s jobs in the future.

In February 2018 the Future of Humanity Institute, whose the authors come from leading universities such as Cambridge, Oxford and Yale, along with privacy advocates and military experts, warned AI could be exploited for malicious purposes.

They warned that AI could misused by rogue states, criminals and lone-wolf attackers.

For years now a number of high profile tech figures have warned about the dangers posed by AI. These include Telsa CEO Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and the late Professor Stephen Hawking.

Professor Hawking told the BBC in December 2014 that a thinking machine could “redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate” and “supersede” humans, while Musk, speaking during an interview at the AeroAstro Centennial Symposium at MIT this year, called AI “our biggest existential threat”.

There is also concern about the use of AI applications among US states.

For example California in September passed a law that outlawed the use of use of facial recognition technology for the body cameras used by state and local law enforcement officers.

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