Competition is becoming more intelligent

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology intensifies competition between the US and China in the field of technological development, follows from the report of the US Chamber of Commerce. Experts suggest countering the advantages of the Chinese approach (large-scale state support and free circulation of data) with facilitated regulation and the introduction of common approaches to it together with other countries, primarily the European Union

The use of artificial intelligence technology is becoming an increasingly important component of competition between the US, the EU and China, according to a report by the AI ​​Commission of the US Chamber of Commerce. It is expected that within 10-20 years almost every business and government agency will use AI, the introduction of technology, according to McKinsey, which the authors of the report refer to, can lead to an acceleration of economic growth by 1.2% per year and an increase in global GDP by 2030 year for $13 trillion.

China has already announced its intention to become an “AI superpower” and is channeling significant amounts of state support for research and support for start-ups. “Competition is so fierce that it is not clear which country will be the leader in this area, which significantly increases the national security risks for the United States and its allies,” the authors state, pointing to the need to develop common regulation for countries with similar approaches (in particular, the EU and Singapore). However, it is not clear whether these countries are ready for such cooperation or whether competition will become even more intense.

The main difficulty in the development of regulation is the balance between the protection of personal rights and the development of technology – first of all, this concerns providing access to data from which AI “learns”. On the same point, the approaches of Western countries and China significantly diverge – “while China is aggressively expanding the use of AI through databases collected by the state without requiring the confidentiality of private information, the EU’s approach may slow down the development of technology,” the authors of the report point out. While it is in the EU that regulation in the field of AI is most developed, the European “AI regulation act” (under development) will be the first such law approved by a major regulator.

The AI ​​Commissions are suggesting that US regulators build on the same principles on which the regulation of the Internet or the digital economy was developed (light regulation, support for migration, active use of venture capital). These are, in particular, a flexible approach to regulation (developed jointly with business, experts and civil society), compliance with its “proportionality” (when gaps in laws are identified, politicians should try to apply a risk-based approach), neutrality (laws should not concern the technologies themselves , but AI applications and results).

It should be noted that increased competition between the US and China in the field of technology has already led to a limitation of mutual trade (mainly in terms of the supply of certain goods to China, including high-tech chips and equipment for their production), as well as opportunities for investment by Chinese companies in the US market. . In the United States, at the same time, they intend to increase the volume of state support for national manufacturers – in August last year, for this, a law was passed on the allocation of additional funding for the development and production of chips, as well as the development of other high technologies. At the same time, another law was passed to strengthen the protection of American manufacturers (the Inflation Control Act), which provides for the allocation of $ 369 billion in funding to upgrade energy infrastructure and stimulate the development and domestic production of key green technologies.

Tatyana Edovina, Venera Petrova