Understanding Global AI Policy Regulations

How do the Chinese and American AI policies compare

In recent years the Intelligent Automation industry has boomed. Computing power has finally reached the required processing capacity to enable various AI applications and innovators in the field have truly been developing some exciting use cases for the technology. However, with this innovative progress we have seen the development of AI products that can be (and in some cases have been) utilised in a way that can cause harm to people and industries. This sparked an interesting discourse that started in earnest in the mid-20-teens around the ethics of AI development and more specifically the management and deployment of AI programmes and technologies. Globally there are several examples of how AI’s thinking has been warped by human bias, resulting in very real-world consequences.

While the technology is developing at break-neck speed it becomes very difficult for governments to develop a regulation policy for AI development and use, fast enough. However, regions like Europe and countries like the USA and China have been hard at work trying to develop AI legislation and policy that will help protect their citizens and provide frameworks within which AI companies are allowed to operate in. In this article, I’ll briefly take a look at the key AI objectives for the Chinese and USA governments, respectively.

AI regulation in China

In 2017, China’s State Council released its plan for the Development of New Generation Artificial Intelligence (Guo Fa [2017] No. 35). The plan was developed in an effort to become leaders in global AI development. From this, the plan has 3 objectives: to create a new international competitive advantage, to stimulate the development of new industries, and to enhance national security.

Key policy objectives

China’s Development of New Generation Artificial Intelligence (Guo Fa [2017] No. 35) plan outlines 6 key steps to achieve its goals:

1. The establishment of an open and cooperative AI technology innovation system
2. Cultivation of a high-end and highly-efficient intelligent economy
3. Building of a safe and convenient intelligent society
4. Strengthening of civil-military integration in the field of AI
5. Establishing a ubiquitous, safe, and efficient intelligent infrastructure system
6. The future-focused layout of a new generation of AI-related major projects

AI regulation in the USA

Introduction

The U.S.A.’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative (NAII) was born out of the National AI Initiative Act of 2020 (DIVISION E, SEC. 5001) which became law in the United States on January 1, 2021. The aim of the NAII is to develop a coordinated program across the U.S. Federal government to drive leadership in AI research and development, education, and use of trustworthy AI in public and private sectors. Principally the focus for their plan and their main approach is laid out as follows:

Key policy objectives

The NAII plans to establish cooperation between all U.S. Departments and Agencies, together with academia, industry, non-profits, and civil society organisations to achieve its goals via 6 key strategic pillars:

1. Innovation – first a foremost the US is looking to really leverage the innovative solutions that come from AI development and the policy is set to reward all R&D efforts that can drive the country’s AI agenda forward.
2. Advancing trustworthy AI – This includes the development of AI technical standards, and governance approaches for the use of AI in the public and private sectors.
3. Education and training – The jobs individuals do today versus what that’ll look like in 10 years has made educating and training people on AI an imperative.
4. Infrastructure – In the hope of growing the American AI R&D community the US plans to share computing and data infrastructure designed to provide AI researchers access to computation resource
5. Applications – Facilitating the continuous R&D and application of AI in all government sectors.
6. International cooperation – Promoting global collaboration on AI development in an effort to avoid subterfuge or competition.

The 2020s are going to be an interesting time for ethical AI policy development and it remains to be seen how well both governments and businesses will adapt to the needs of governing industry and technology that is evolving at such a pace it is difficult to keep up.