The US is imposing expansive export controls on chips used for artificial intelligence in an effort to make it harder for China and other adversaries to get access to advanced technology with military applications, Financial Times reported.
Joe Biden’s administration on Monday unveiled an export control regime that gives 20 close allies and partners uninhibited access to AI-related chips while placing licensing requirements on most other countries. The move faced immediate pushback from the US semiconductor industry.
The policy aims to make it harder for China to use other countries to circumvent existing US restrictions and get technology that can be used for everything from nuclear weapons to hypersonic missiles.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said: “The rule both provides greater clarity to our international partners and to industry and counters the serious circumvention and related national security risks posed by countries of concern and malicious actors who may seek to use the advanced American technologies agains us.”
The regime creates a three-tier licensing system for chips used to power data centres that process AI computation. The top tier, which includes G7 members in addition to countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Ireland will face no restrictions.
The White House posted: FACT CHECK: Ensuring U.S. Security and Economic Strength In the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming central to both security and economic strength. The United States must act decisively to lead this transition by ensuring that U.S. technology undergirds global AI use and that adversaries cannot easily abuse advanced AI.
In the wrong hands, powerful AI systems have the potential to exacerbate significant national security risks, including by enabling the development of weapons of mass destruction, supporting powerful offensive cyber operations, and aiding human rights abuses, such as mass surveillance. Today countries of concern actively employ AI — including U.S.-made AI – in this way, and to seek to undermine US. AI leadership.
To enhance U.S. national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world’s AI runs on American rails. It is important to work with AI companies and foreign governments to put in place security and trust standards as they build out their AI ecosystems….
TechCrunch reported: Within a week left in office, President Joe Biden introduced a newest set of guidelines and restrictions for exporting U.S. made chips.
On Monday, the administration its Interim Final Rule on AI diffusion. This ruling is meant to “provide clarity to allied and partner nations about how they can benefit from AI.” and streamline licensing hurdles for chip orders, according to a White House press release. But these rules also introduce new chip sale restrictions on the majority of the countries in the world.
In my opinion, I hope that the intent of the White House is going to benefit the United States while also preventing some other countries from using AI.