Report Calls for Government Intervention on AI

A State Department-funded report calls for the government to have stronger regulatory powers over artificial intelligence (AI).

Gladstone AI’s report voiced caution with the use of AI, and said the technology has “global” risks that are “evolving quickly.”

“As a result, policymakers face a diminishing opportunity to introduce technically informed safeguards that can balance these considerations and ensure advanced AI is developed and adopted responsibly,” the report said, noting that some labs have “publicly acknowledged these dangers.”

The report called for government intervention over AI, claiming that the numerous national security concerns may be a larger threat than initially thought. “Given the growing risk to national security posed by rapidly expanding AI capabilities from weaponization and loss of control — and particularly, the fact that the ongoing proliferation of these capabilities serves to amplify both risks — there is a clear and urgent need for the U.S. government to intervene.”

AI has the potential “destabilize global security,” the report added. “As advanced AI matures and the elements of the AI supply chain continue to proliferate, countries may race to acquire the resources to build sovereign advanced AI capabilities. Unless carefully managed, these competitive dynamics risk triggering an [artificial general intelligence] arms race and increase the likelihood of global- and WMD-scale fatal accidents, interstate conflict, and escalation.”

One of the report’s authors, former Defense Department official Mark Beall, left Gladstone to organize a super PAC targeting AI policies.

The PAC, called Americans for AI Safety, is designed to make AI security a “key issue in the 2024 elections, with a goal of passing AI safety legislation by the end of 2024,” according to TIME.