Eric Schmidt’s Nationwide Safety Fee for AI warns China

Eric Schmidt speaks during a conference of the National Security Commission for Artificial Intelligence on November 5, 2019 in Washington

Alex Wong | Getty Images

According to a group of experts chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the US is drastically ill-prepared for the age of artificial intelligence.

The National Security Commission on AI warned in a 756-page report Monday that China could soon overtake the US as the world’s “AI superpower”, saying that there are serious military implications to consider.

“America is not ready to defend or compete in the AI ​​era,” wrote Schmidt and vice-chairman Bob Work, who was previously assistant secretary of defense. “This is the difficult reality that we have to face.”

The review began in March 2019, and this is the final report for the President and Congress. The commission’s 15 members include technologists, national security experts, senior executives and academic leaders. Among them are Andy Jassy, ​​the next CEO of Amazon, Safra Catz, Oracle CEO, Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer of Microsoft, and Andrew Moore, Chief of Google Cloud AI.

Schmidt and Work said the report outlines a “strategy to defend against AI threats, responsibly use AI for national security, and win broader technology competition for our prosperity, security and wellbeing.”

AI to go beyond sci-fi

They warn that AI systems are used for the “pursuit of power” and that “AI will not stay in the realm of superpowers or science fiction”.

The report urges President Joe Biden to reject calls for a global ban on highly controversial AI-powered autonomous weapons. China and Russia are unlikely to abide by any treaty they have signed.

“Without ubiquitous AI capabilities and new paradigms of warfare, we will not be able to defend ourselves against AI-enabled threats,” wrote Schmidt and Work.

Samim Wagner, an AI researcher in Berlin, sees things differently and tells CNBC that AI weapons and killer robots will make today’s weapons even more deadly.

“”[Adopting AI weapons] is brutal madness and everyone knows it, but think tank staff from DC to Beijing keep telling us that it is ‘progress and necessary’. “

He added, “A real discussion of how AI can help promote peace around the world is really needed – but you certainly won’t find it on the agenda of Pentagon employees or intelligence billionaires like Eric Schmidts of the World.” “

China has stated that it wants to be the world leader in AI by 2030. The report’s authors said it was important that the US do everything possible to rule out the likelihood of this event.

“We have to win the AI ​​competition, which intensifies strategic competition with China,” said Schmidt and Work. “China’s plans, resources, and progress should affect all Americans. We take seriously China’s ambition to outperform the United States as the world’s AI leader in a decade.”

They added that China’s domestic use of AI “is a terrifying precedent for anyone around the world who values ​​individual freedom”.

AI suggestions

The commission calls on the U.S. government to more than double its spending on AI research and development to $ 32 billion a year by 2026.

It is also proposed that a new body be established to help the President lead US’s broader AI policy, relax immigration laws for talented AI professionals, create a new university to train digitally skilled civil servants, and launch to accelerate new technologies by US intelligence agencies.

The report also warns that the US must do more to make itself dependent on computer chips and warns of the dangers of such reliance on Taiwan’s TSMC.

“Microelectronics drives all AI, and the US no longer makes the most modern chips in the world,” wrote Schmidt and Work. “Given that the vast majority of state-of-the-art chips are made in a single facility just 110 miles water from our main strategic competitor, we need to reassess the importance of supply chain resilience and security.”