I’ve read and heard so much about artificial intelligence since I’ve started writing for Tech Decisions that I figured the U.S. was leading the way.
With the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft calling the U.S. home, I thought we were for sure leading the world in AI technologies. I was also sure that the U.S. government and its national security experts were utilizing the technology to its fullest extent.
According to Reuters, I’m wrong, and the U.S. is falling behind China, which is investing more than the U.S. in AI.
The outlet’s write-up of the release of the National Security Commission’s report suggests that the U.S. needs to invest more in research and education to apply the technology to national security missions.
The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), created by Congress last year, raised concerns about the progress China has made in this area. It also said the U.S. government still faces enormous work before it can transition AI from “a promising technological novelty into a mature technology integrated into core national security missions.”
The commission thinks an allied effort on AI in the realm of national security is important, Robert Work, vice chairman of the NSCAI and a former deputy secretary of defense, told reporters. The NSCAI has spoken with Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union, Work said.
China is investing more than the United States in AI, said the report, which referred to the Asian nation more than 50 times.
“China takes advantage of the openness of U.S. society in numerous ways – some legal, some not – to transfer AI know-how,” the report said, at a time of heightened tensions between the countries.
According to Reuter’s sources, China is ahead in facial recognition technologies for surveillance and financial technology. However, the West is overall more conducting more advanced research overall.
The article also noted the geopolitical implications of continuing or not continuing to collaborate with Chinese researchers on this technology.
There are far more applications and uses for the technology than government and military applications, and governments around the world should invest in every use of the technology.
There are clear ethics issues with AI and other emerging technology, so governments should proceed with AI Investing cautiously, but they should also let the market and science dictate where the technology is applied.
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