AI Meets World, Part Two

The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought lawmakers and industry leaders to the same conclusion: regulation is necessary to ensure the technology changes the world for the better. The similarities could end there, as governments and industry clash on what those laws should do, and different governments take increasingly divergent approaches. What are the stakes of the debate over AI regulation?

Play Button Pause Button
0:00 0:00
x
Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Director, Podcasting
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Molly McAnany - Associate Podcast Producer

Episode Guests
  • Sebastian Mallaby
    Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics
  • Janet Haven
    Executive Director, Data & Society, Member, National AI Advisory Committee to the White House

Show Notes

Governments seeking to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) face a classic trade-off between regulation and innovation. But in the case of this new, potentially world-changing technology, that trade-off has another dimension: geopolitical competition. 

 

Governments aiming to regulate AI are also intent on developing a lead (or not getting left behind) in a technology that experts say has pivotal military applications. As a result, the world’s three largest economies are pursuing increasingly different regulatory regimes. The European Union has been the quickest to introduce regulations, while the United States has taken a wait-and-see approach. Meanwhile, China stipulates that its AI must “reflect the core values of socialism,” even as Beijing frames AI innovation as a national priority. As their paths diverge, the regulations chosen by these governments are likely to frame AI development—and with it geopolitics—in the decades to come.

 

 

From CFR

 

Connor Fairman, “How to Prioritize the Next Generation of Critical Technologies,” Net Politics

 

Seaton Huang, “Tracking the Race to Develop Generative AI Technologies in China,” Net Politics

 

Pragya Jain, “The Importance of International Norms in Artificial Intelligence Ethics,” Net Politics


 

From Our Guests

 

Jenna Burrell and Janet Haven, “AI Harms Are Already Here,” Data & Society: Points

 

Janet Haven, “AI Bill of Rights: What Critics Get Right and Wrong,” Context

 

 

Read More

 

Alex Engler, “The EU and U.S. Diverge on AI Regulation: A Transatlantic Comparison and Steps to Alignment,” Brookings Institution

 

Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo, “The AI Arms Race Is Changing Everything,” TIME

 

Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie, “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humans,” Pew Research Center

 

Matt O’Shaughnessy and Hadrien Pouget, “Reconciling the U.S. Approach to AI,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace


 

Watch and Listen

 

Artificial Intelligence: Uses and Regulation By Local Government,” CFR.org

 

Shannon Bond and Miles Parks, “AI Deepfakes Could Advance Misinformation in the Run-Up to the 2024 Election,” NPR

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Scenes from the Israel-Hamas war have reverberated across the world. In the United States, debate about the conflict has intensified, and it has resurfaced long-standing questions about policy toward Israel and the Palestinian territories. What is the U.S. goal for the region? And how is the United States responding to the war?

Trade

International trade has shaped the world for much of the past century. Countries benefited from the global flow of goods, and the world became richer and safer. At the same time, many Americans lost their jobs to cheaper overseas competitors. Now, a series of compounding challenges, including great power competition and climate change, have led U.S. officials to rethink trade policy. What's next for international trade? And can the United States retain the benefits of trade while protecting critical supply chains and fighting climate change?

Drug Policy

Over the past few years, a new threat has emerged as a leading cause of death in the United States: fentanyl. Yet even as the drug wreaks havoc on Americans lives, preventing its flow into the United States is complicated, partially because of the supply’s overseas origins, which is often China. What is China’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis?

Top Stories on CFR

United States

Committed global action at every level of government, the economy, and society is needed to tackle such a complex, multifaceted challenge, and a growing awareness that time is running out should help to foster it at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. But the real test will come after, when promises must be kept.

United States

As 2023 comes to a close, here are ten notable historical anniversaries to mark in 2024.

South Korea

In seventy years, the U.S.-South Korea alliance has evolved from a patron-client relationship to a global comprehensive strategic alliance.