Spooked by ChatGPT US Lawmakers Want to Create an AI Regulator

Imagine a scenario where you ask your assistant to look up some information about a certain topic. It fetches you some web pages and presents you with a summary. You realize that the summary is biased and promotes a certain viewpoint. You ask the assistant to give you more information about the source of the summary, but it refuses, stating that it has no obligation to provide that information. You start to wonder if you can trust the assistant. Welcome to the world of AI.

The need for an AI regulator

The rise of AI has brought about numerous benefits and advancements in various industries. However, alongside the benefits, there are also concerns about its potential risks and unintended consequences. This has led to calls for the creation of an AI regulator to ensure that AI is developed and used safely and ethically.

Some of the main concerns about AI include:

• Privacy violations: AI can be used to collect and analyze vast amounts of personal data, which can be used to violate people's privacy and manipulate them.
• Biased decision-making: AI can be trained on biased data, which can lead to biased decision-making. This can result in discrimination and unfair treatment of certain groups of people.
• Unintended consequences: AI can have unintended consequences, such as the creation of new forms of cyber attacks, or the destruction of jobs that were previously done by humans.

To illustrate the need for an AI regulator, here are some quantifiable examples:

• Bias in AI facial recognition: A study by MIT found that facial recognition software developed by major tech companies was less accurate at identifying darker-skinned individuals, which could lead to unfair treatment by law enforcement and other agencies.
• Privacy violations by smart speakers: In 2019, it was revealed that Amazon, Google, and Apple contractors were listening to and transcribing recordings from smart speakers without users' consent. This raises concerns about what else these companies may be doing with users' personal data.
• AI job displacement: A report by McKinsey found that up to 800 million jobs could be lost to automation by 2030, with low-skilled workers being most affected. This could lead to economic and social upheaval in affected communities.

The role of an AI regulator

An AI regulator would have several key roles:

• Ensuring safety and ethics: An AI regulator would develop and enforce safety and ethical standards for AI development and use. This would ensure that AI is developed in ways that are consistent with human values and that it does not pose unnecessary risks to society.
• Monitoring AI development and use: An AI regulator would track the development and use of AI to ensure that it is being used in ways that are consistent with safety and ethical standards. This would allow the regulator to intervene if it detects any problematic uses of AI.
• Providing guidance and support: An AI regulator could provide guidance and support to AI developers and users to help them comply with safety and ethical standards. This could involve providing training, certification, or other resources.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the rise of AI has brought about numerous benefits, but also numerous concerns about its risks and unintended consequences. An AI regulator could help to ensure that AI is developed and used safely and ethically, by developing and enforcing safety and ethical standards, monitoring AI development and use, and providing guidance and support to AI developers and users. Failure to create an AI regulator could lead to long-lasting negative effects on society, such as loss of privacy, biased decision-making, and job displacement at an unprecedented scale.

To ensure a safe and ethical future for AI, we need to act now, by creating an AI regulator that is capable of keeping pace with the rapid development of AI technologies.