Keith Bartholomew
Sep 2, 2018 · 11 min read

The Importance of Regulating Artificial Intelligence

In 1947 a researcher by the name of Alan Turing first gave a lecture on the topic of artificial intelligence. Nearly seven decades later, the topic is still extremely prevalent in the news. Artificial Intelligence is defined as the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. While some imagine AI (Artificial Intelligence) as some far-flung science fiction, over the last few years advances in computing and billions of dollars in funding by both government and tech companies like Google and Facebook have advanced AI research. In 2016 reports indicated expenditure had increased over the previous five years “technology companies spent $8.5 billion on deals and investments in artificial intelligence, four times more than in 2010” (The Economist, 2016). While companies continue to invest billions, important figureheads around the world are beginning to speak publicly about the benefits and dangers of AI.

The processing ability of computers is continuing to increase, and applications in AI are capable everywhere. Military application creates a serious concern in modern warfare and lethality of operations, while the economic impact and research increase of AI may propel us into a golden age. Alternatively, there are some serious dangers if handled irresponsibly, it would be unsafe to assume that only the most ethically minded researchers are developing this technology. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, recently commented on the issue. President Putin said about AI “colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now.” He also warned that “the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world.” This statement should be taken very seriously, especially when heads of state are beginning to realize the implications of AI. So it is important to ask ourselves, what is the government of the United States doing to ensure we remain competitive?

Elon Musk, the famous founder of PayPal and CEO of Tesla and Space X, commented on Twitter in response to President Putin “China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at the national level most likely cause of WW3 IMO (in my opinion),” He also stated “I have exposure to the most cutting-edge AI, and I think people should be really concerned by it. AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.” Elon is pushing for the United States to begin regulation on AI. The same way we see regulation on current information systems, transport, and weapons we should see a regulation of this particular technology as it will be universally applicable. While the dangers of AI may be apparent, there are many benefits to its implementation in society.

The advances that can be made into medical research to treat cancer and other diseases, can be made by allowing a system to provide expert advice and solutions in near real time. IBM, a prominent technology company, has a version of artificial intelligence called Watson. Not only did Watson win a game of Jeopardy against human opponents but is also working to help further medical research. “ They taught Watson to read medical literature in about a week…read 25 million papers in another week….300-plus people where Watson identified a treatment that a well-meaning, hard-working group of physicians hadn’t found.” (Ned Sharpless, 2017) The benefits of employing this technology are numerous and will undoubtedly solve many of society’s issues. It is important to evaluate these advancements so we can be prepared to handle new complications that arise. Mitigating the negative impact of this technology should be in the government’s interest.

A key economic issue, especially one that is important to many Americans, is job security. As we develop more and more methods for performing tasks, jobs will be replaced by machines. Any profession that requires a high degree of thought may be replaced, and whether or not this limits or ultimately subdues human intelligence is yet to be seen. “ in the coming 10 to 20 years around half of today’s jobs will be threatened by algorithms. 40% of today’s top 500 companies will have vanished in a decade.” (Helbing et al Zwitter, 2017) How societal, economic, and political decisions will be made using this new contribution may change how the government conducts business.

If we truly develop autonomous and intelligent systems to aid us in our everyday life, drafting a playbook for important criteria should be in place before building the infrastructure. Determining who can access it, who and how it can be owned, and who is responsible for its actions in the case of disaster are all concerns that should be outlined. The UN has limited guidance on this so far. Current regulation falls under article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, which states that “a person (whether a natural person or a legal entity) on whose behalf a computer was programmed should ultimately be responsible for any message generated by the machine.”

It is not extremely clear what the United States government, either at the State or Federal level, has really done to supervise such a pivotal resource. According to a White House Embargo report, there are a few strategies in place to extend economic protection and education for its citizens. Many argue for and against the regulation, but ultimately citizens should benefit from AI equally in order to contradict President Putin’s prophecy. The government has an obligation to protect its citizens from the dangers that are presented whether that’s their job security or personal safety.

It is extremely important to emphasize the dangers of not acting fast enough. If the United States and other governments are not fast acting, the rate at which technology advances will overtake the amount of time it takes for policy to be decided. If these rule sets are not put in place before the advent of a newer technology like AI, then we see a failure of our government to provide for the people whether that is their safety, privacy or equality.

In recent years advances in technology, like computer science, have allowed breakthroughs in application of technology that will innovate society forever. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computer that emulates human intelligence. Although the human brain is an amazing thing to understand, AI is able to process information many times faster. In recent years corporate entities and governments internationally have funded billions of dollars into researching this field, and it has been quite successful. Leaders of foreign nations and moguls of multi-billion dollar companies have publicly stated the dangers and potential of this new advance of humankind. While the dangers seem apparent, the benefit of AI cannot be ignored, it reaches over everything from medical diagnoses to dynamic food distribution to solve food insecurity globally. The United States government has performed only a few actions in response to this breakthrough, and it is not clear what stance it will take to protect the general welfare of its citizens.

The reason the US government should be concerned with the advent of AI in society is because it not only provides a boost to corporate operations but the efficiency of government and military applications as well. Agencies like the US Department of Transportation has funded $50 million into autonomous vehicles, “the city of Columbus, which just won the U.S. Department of Transportation’s $50 million Smart City Challenge, plans to use autonomous vehicles to provide transportation between a neighborhood where unemployment is three times the city average to a nearby jobs center.” (governing.com 2017) This has huge implications on the impact government will have on our daily lives, especially when AI can be used to comb through massive troves of public data. “Following the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, image recognition software combed through hundreds of thousands of images and videos taken at the detonation site to find clues.” (governing.com 2017) When applied to law enforcement, this can be a very beneficial tool. However, those same techniques used could potentially interfere with a citizen’s liberty. Currently, people’s data is being used without their consent for monetary gain, whether it’s through advertisement or some other data trend. In an age where data is so valuable, protecting it from the scrutiny of corporations and government is a significant challenge.

Recently, a US government official began pushing regulation at the federal level, “Washington state’s Maria Cantwell has circulated draft legislation…to create a board that would provide advice on a broad range of AI-related topics to the federal government.” (Axios.com 2017) Maria Cantwell belongs to the Democratic Party, which means that if backed by her party would mean that the Democrats are in favor of regulation and advisement to the Secretary of Commerce. Any opposition is likely to come from the Republican party, in the form that they would support a free market approach. A free market approach to AI, is that it allows those competitors to excel in their use and that only ethical applications will do well. However, I think those on the political right would support regulation when it presented an unfair advantage in business, violation of civil liberties like privacy and unsafe military application. Some players on the political left who opposed those of Maria Cantwell would express a deeper concern for international application and stress higher methods of regulation. In my opinion, I believe that the US government will, when able to fully comprehend and discuss the matter, will take a moderate approach to the topic and some form of legislation on the matter will occur.

Even if both parties are currently working on solutions, there is still a lot of work to be conducted and it should be a pressing issue as the technology reaches fruition. “As it stands, the U.S. has no policy on the potential threat of robotization to jobs, or even a legal definition of AI. The draft bill falls short of ordering action or formulating policy.” (Axios.com 2017) It is important to note, that while the US Federal government does not possess a robust policy on AI, some State governments do.

The United States government possesses the ability to draft laws in order to promote the general welfare of the people. However some would say that this need not apply to non-citizens. This outlines that method the people of the United States use their government to provide services and in some case necessities. Through the proper channels citizens can gain access programs designed to assist them in some way, usually through non profit or tax funded organizations. As a taxpayer, the idea that you can directly access government assistance in many forms, is supported by the constitution. The funding, responsibilities, and effectiveness of these organizations are determined by legislation, which ideally represents their constituency. So in order to provide for the public interest it would be arguable that the government should provide benefits bolstered by the advent of artificial intelligence and be protected from less reputable methods.

It is from this understanding of how a slow, chaotic, and bureaucratic organization like the US government works, that I believe a very important series of decisions needs to be made regarding regulation. Regulation of AI is crucial to the safety of the public’s privacy and safety. Regulation of AI is also important to the vitality of a free market and the propulsion of capitalism in our global society. In order to regulate AI, you must use similar methods to conduct the tracking and audit of innumerable calculations. I propose that a regulatory agency develops a secured network of AI to regulate all others in order to maintain ethical practices internationally. It would be easier to regulate a few key AI systems than what could potentially be millions of systems.

The problem with tackling a major issue like the rise in machine learning and big data operations is funding. While these new systems generate wealth for their corporate entities, the government needs the funding, expert opinion, and access in order to formulate an informed opinion on the matter. Funding is important in securing the personnel, equipment, travel and other logistical efforts required to support the operation to study, educate and debate the best solution to this issue. Money flow into a project this large would have to substantial, as subject matter experts on such a higher echelon of technology would need to be compensated for their intellectual property. Another issue with informing both the public and its representatives is access to that privatized technology. Even now, many different technology entities are studying, inventing and perfecting AI systems separately from each other. While it is not clear who is ahead in this game, it is safe to say that all will become different products with different natures and processes. How do we categorize different types, different risks and benefits, and impose an easy to understand and encapsulating regulation to serve our needs? You need to have access to this data from all sources in order to do so. This can be very controversial, especially in the United States where the Federal Government would be put into the cross-hairs of a media firestorm. The reason for such controversy lies in the government’s inability to seize top secret corporate information, and may actually present a constitutional crises.

The United States has recently undertaken an “America First” approach in the executive branch. This is concerning because international cooperation is possibly the best method to put heavy regulations on the most dangerous of AI technology. The United Nations is working on banning what it calls “Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems” or LAWS. These are essentially killer robots, whether they come in the package of an automated drone system, or a real life terminator built to reduce human casualty. The same way that nuclear technology proliferated a cold war between rival superpowers, military research from both governments and weapons technology companies could result in the same with LAWS.

The United States government supplies a multi billion dollar military contract industry to develop everything it deploys. It can be assumed that these same corporations are developing these future weapons. Recently, Russia has publicly announce their stance on the issue, “ Russian diplomats delivered a message for those who want to ban killer robots: Russia will build them no matter what.” (Hutchinson 2017) This should be alarming for a number of reasons, if the US cannot work alongside the UN in de-escalating a weapon potentially more deadly than nuclear arms, then we must push for global enforcement. Funding for the development of LAWS countermeasures will be another multi billion dollar project to protect against ever growing threats.

The best solution for the regulation of artificial intelligence both in the realms of economic consumerism but also defense and equality is international coordination. It should not be left to one state alone, but to the effort of the entire human race. Diplomats should begin working in the interests of the general welfare of the people to pursue a solution to ensure this new technology becomes a good that is provided to everyone.

References

Press, A. (2017, September 01). Putin: Leader in artificial intelligence will rule the world. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://nypost.com/2017/09/01/putin-leader-in-artificial-intelligence-will-rule-the-world/

Browne, R. (2017, September 04). Elon Musk says global race for A.I. will be the most likely cause of World War III. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/04/elon-musk-says-global-race-for-ai-will-be-most-likely-cause-of-ww3.html

Clifford, C. (2017, July 26). Mark Zuckerberg doubles down defending A.I. after Elon Musk says his understanding is ‘limited’. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/26/mark-zuckerberg-defends-a-i-again-continuing-debate-with-elon-musk.html

Čerka, P., Grigienė, J., & Sirbikytė, G. (2015). Liability for damages caused by artificial intelligence. Computer Law & Security Review, 31(3), 376–389. doi:10.1016/j.clsr.2015.03.008

Mauldin, K., & Mauldin. (2013). Artificial intelligence. In A. K. Taylor, Encyclopedia of human memory. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Retrieved from http://libraryaccess.sdmiramar.edu:8080/login?qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fgreenwoodhm%2Fartificial_intelligence%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D9068

Why firms are piling into artificial intelligence. (2016, March 31). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/04/economist-explains

Dirk Helbing,Bruno S. Frey,Gerd Gigerenzer,Ernst Hafen,Michael Hagner,Yvonne Hofstetter,Jeroen van den Hoven,Roberto V. Zicari,Andrej Zwitter. (n.d.). Will Democracy Survive Big Data and Artificial Intelligence? Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-democracy-survive-big-data-and-artificial-intelligence/

Rose, C. (2017, June 25). Artificial intelligence positioned to be a game-changer. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-intelligence-positioned-to-be-a-game-changer/

The White House. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/

Artificial Intelligence. (n.d.). Retrieved November 01, 2017, from

[. (n.d.). Artificial Intelligence: The Next Big Thing in Government. Retrieved November 01, 2017, from http://www.governing.com/columns/tech-talk/gov-artificial-intelligence-government-technology.html

Exclusive: Senator wants administration to reckon with A.I. (2017, July 10). Retrieved November 01, 2017, from https://www.axios.com/a-draft-proposal-would-push-government-to-reckon-with-a-i-2456353687.html

Etzioni, Amitai, and Oren Etzioni. “Should artificial intelligence be regulated?” Issues in Science and Technology, vol. 33, no. 4, 2017, p. 32+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, libraryaccess.sdmiramar.edu:8080/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499863892/OVIC?u=san20782&xid=8cb5c85d. Accessed 1 Nov. 2017.

Hutchison, H. C. (2017, November 30). Russia says it will ignore any UN ban of killer robots. Retrieved December 06, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-will-ignore-un-killer-robot-ban-2017-11

Keith Bartholomew

Written by

Inspired by fiction and the limitless imagination, I seek to understand my life through the recesses literature provides from our common world.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade