Why Self-Regulation Is Best for Artificial Intelligence

As the Biden Administration seeks to get its arms around the global phenomenon that is artificial intelligence, it should recognize a few realities.  

First, artificial intelligence (AI) is more than an idea whose time has come – it is indelibly written into the fabric of our society. AI has grown from a theoretical, academic concept to an indispensable tool in just about every sector imaginable. It has become ubiquitous and universal, transforming commerce, culture, industry, and individual lives the world over, fostering a new era of innovation. 

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Congress Needs Real Intelligence To Address Artificial Intelligence

In our age of hyper-partisan politics, one area that seems to be attracting notable bipartisan congressional concern, including various potential legislative approaches, is the real-time development and implementation of artificial intelligence.  AI’s reach across many economic sectors and its effect on education, medical research, and national security poses complex legal, social, and moral questions that need to be addressed.

The Senate’s hearings in May clearly demonstrated that Democrats and Republicans were eager to learn more.  As Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) noted, “We could be looking at one of the most significant technological innovations in human history.”  At the other end of the political spectrum, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) clearly agreed with Hawley’s assessment regarding what is at stake.  “The magnitude of the challenge … is substantial.  I’m not sure that we respond quickly and with enough expertise to deal with it.”

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Deploying U.S. AI Leadership for COVID-19

Among the cutting-edge technologies being employed by public health experts to map various aspects of COVID-19 both at home and abroad, artificial intelligence (AI) faces a test under life-and-death circumstances.  The ability of AI systems to undertake pattern detection and predict the spread of the pandemic and its treatments is promising.  The benefit of machine learning includes its powerful ability to analyze historic data to find key variables.  This task is dependent upon humans, however, specifically in the ability of data scientists who can work on creating data sets that supercomputers then can model.  On a global basis, this will require pooling both technical and human resources.

Given the unprecedented nature of COVID-19, historic data inputted for AI analysis may be of limited value.  Real-time data comparing growth curves in countries around the world, along with population and demographic information by neighborhood, may prove to be a better vein for producing actionable data anywhere and everywhere.  Automated machine learning also may improve the efficiency of data scientists, enabling them to focus on new data generation while relying on computer-to-computer analysis of massive-scale number crunching.

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The Challenge of Harnessing Change in a Global Economy

As the news media know better than anyone, the great story of our times is change – dramatic, accelerating, and often disruptive change.

The key question is whether our economy, our educational institutions, and our system of democratic self-government can harness this change for everyone’s benefit – or whether the tidal wave of change will overrun us.

To meet the challenges of change, we must think big and act boldly.  Our growing divisions, however – our self-selecting news bubbles, the tribalization of our politics, the noxious contempt each side has for the other – are making it harder to solve big problems.  The environment is certainly not conducive to serious dialogue or to constructive problem solving.

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