Differences between wealthy nations’ views on AI is already causing market fissures. The EU has introduced sweeping AI regulations with data usage controls that have prompted some US companies to limit the availability of their products there.
The hands-off approach adopted by the US government has led California to propose its own AI rules. Earlier versions of these regulations were criticized by AI companies based there as too onerous, for example in how they would require firms to report their activities to the government, resulting in the rules being watered down.
Meltzer adds that AI is evolving at such a rapid pace that the UN will not be able to manage global cooperation alone. “There is clearly an important role for the UN when it comes to AI governance, but it needs to be part of a distributed kind of architecture,” with individual nations also working on it directly, he says. “You’ve got a fast-evolving technology, and the UN is clearly not set up to handle that.”
The UN report seeks to establish common ground between member states by emphasizing the importance of human rights. “Anchoring the analysis in terms of human rights is very compelling,” says Chris Russell, a professor at Oxford University in the UK who studies international AI governance. “It gives the work a strong basis in international law, a very broad remit, and a focus on concrete harms as they occur to people.”
Russell adds that there is a great deal of duplication in the work governments are doing to evaluate AI with a view to regulation. The US and UK governments have separate bodies working on probing AI models for misbehavior, for example. The UN’s efforts might avoid further redundancy. “Working internationally and pooling our efforts makes a lot of sense,” he says.
Although governments may see AI as a way to gain a strategic edge, many scientists are aligned in their concerns about AI. Earlier this week, a group of prominent academics from the West and China issued a joint call for more collaboration on AI safety following a conference on the subject held in Vienna, Austria.
Nelson, the advisory body member, says she believes government leaders can work together across important issues, too. But she says much will depend on how the UN and its member states chose to follow through on the blueprint for cooperation. “The devil will be in the details of implementation,” she says.
