The Biden administration issued sweeping rules on Monday governing how artificial intelligence chips and models can be shared with foreign countries, in an effort to create a global framework that will guide how artificial intelligence spreads around the world in the coming years.
With the power of artificial intelligence growing rapidly, the Biden administration said the rules were necessary to keep a transformative technology under the control of the United States and its allies and out of the hands of adversaries who could use it to strengthen their armies. cyberattacks and otherwise threaten the United States.
The rules put various limits on the number of AI chips companies can ship to different countries, effectively dividing the world into three categories. The United States and 18 of its closest partners – including Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan – are exempt from any restrictions and can buy AI chips freely.
Countries already subject to a US arms embargo, such as China and Russia, will continue to face a pre-existing ban on purchases of artificial intelligence chips.
All other nations – most of the world – will be subject to caps limiting the number of AI chips that can be imported, although countries and companies can increase that number by entering into special agreements with the US government.
The rules are intended to stop China from acquiring from other countries the technology it needs to produce artificial intelligence, after the United States banned such sales to China in recent years.
But the regulations also have broader goals: to make allied countries the location of choice for companies to build the world’s largest data centers, in an effort to keep the most advanced AI models within the borders of the United States and its partners .
Governments around the world, particularly in the Middle East, are pumping in money to attract and build massive new data centers in a bid to become the next hub for artificial intelligence development.
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters on Sunday that the rule would ensure that the infrastructure for training the most advanced artificial intelligence would be located in the United States or in the jurisdiction of close allies and that “that capability does not disappear . like chips and batteries and other industries that we’ve had to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to bring back ashore.”
“The rule provides greater clarity to our international partners and industry and addresses the serious circumvention and related national security risks posed by countries of concern and malicious actors who may seek to use advanced American technologies against us,” said Mr. Sullivan.
It will be up to the Trump administration to decide whether to keep the new rules or how to enforce them. In a call with reporters Sunday, Biden administration officials said they had been consulting with the incoming administration about the rules.
Although companies in China have begun developing their own artificial intelligence chips, the global market for such semiconductors is dominated by American companies, particularly Nvidia. This dominance has given the US government the ability to regulate the flow of AI technology worldwide, restricting the exports of US companies.
Companies protested those restrictions, saying the restrictions could block harmless or even useful types of computers, anger U.S. allies and ultimately push global buyers to buy non-U.S. products, such as those made in China.
In a statement, Ned Finkle, Nvidia’s vice president of government affairs, called the rule “unprecedented and misguided” and said it “threatens to derail innovation and economic growth worldwide.”
“Instead of mitigating any threat, the new Biden rules will only weaken America’s global competitiveness, undermining the innovation that has kept the US ahead,” he said.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said in a statement that the company was confident it could “fully comply with the high security standards of this rule and meet the technology needs of countries and customers around the world who rely on us.”
The rules, which run more than 200 pages, also create a system in which companies that manage data centers, such as Microsoft and Google, can apply for special government accreditations.
In exchange for meeting certain security standards, these companies can then trade AI chips more freely around the world. The companies would still have to agree to keep 75% of their total AI computing power in the United States or allied countries and place no more than 7% of their computing power in any other nation.
The rules also define the first controls on weights for AI models, the parameters unique to each model that determine how the AI ​​makes its predictions. Companies that set up data centers overseas should adopt security standards to protect that intellectual property and prevent adversaries from gaining access to it.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the way scientists conduct research, the way companies distribute tasks among their employees, and the way armies operate. While artificial intelligence has many beneficial uses, US officials are most concerned that it could enable the development of new weapons, help countries track dissidents and otherwise upend the global balance of power.
Jimmy Goodrich, senior adviser for technology analysis at the RAND Corporation, said the rules would create a framework to protect U.S. security interests while allowing companies to compete abroad. “They are also forward-looking, trying to maintain US and allied-led supply chains before they are moved overseas to the highest subsidy bidder,” he said.
