White House plans new limits on exports of AI tech, vexing industry
White House plans new limits on exports of AI tech, vexing industry
The Joe Biden administration may issue rules as early as Friday that restrict the flow of artificial intelligence technology around the world — and aim particularly at China. Many in the tech industry are worried.
The administration doesn’t want AI to fuel China’s military development. AI chips can go into phones, yes, but they can also go into drones.
“Semiconductors really will be at the very heart of warfighting capability in the next generation,” said Scott Jones, a senior nonresident fellow at the Stimson Center.
He said that concern has been at the heart of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit the spread of AI chips and chipmaking capabilities. The new set of restrictions “buckets countries into different groups,” said Gregory Allen with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Some U.S. allies would get AI chips, no problem. Other countries, including China, wouldn’t be allowed to get them at all.
“And finally, there’s the group of countries that are in the middle. They are subject to certain restrictions on the conditions under which those exports of AI chips can take place, and also the overall quantities of AI chips that can be sold,” Allen said.
These rules go further than previous attempts to control access to AI technology.
“You know, it started out with China, but now we’re looking at the U.S. seeking to regulate, globally, the diffusion of these chips,” said Peter Lichtenbaum, a partner at law firm Covington & Burling.
Some tech companies are not happy with the rules, at least what’s known about them so far.
Take Jason Oxman, president of the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents Apple, Intel and Amazon, among others. “It’s a really bad idea,” he said.
“We’re not just talking about limiting access to countries of concern, we’re talking about limiting access to our allies around the world,” Oxman said — forcing them, he added, to look elsewhere, and undermining U.S. industrial dominance.
So far, the administration’s efforts to control the spread of AI know-how have indeed slowed China’s development of the technology, said Gregory Allen of CSIS. “China is looking pretty stuck,” he said.
But the Asian giant may retaliate with its own export controls and sanctions against the U.S.
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