US, China meet in Geneva for talks on AI risks
WITH the United States and China meeting in Geneva to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) on Tuesday (May 14), US officials have stressed that Washington’s policies would not be up for negotiation as talks explore how to mitigate risks from the emerging technology.
President Joe Biden’s administration has sought to engage China on a range of issues to reduce miscommunication between the two rivals. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month broached the topic of AI in Beijing, where they agreed to hold their first formal bilateral talks on the subject.
The State Department has pressed China and Russia to match US declarations that only humans, and never AI, would make decisions on deploying nuclear weapons.
Asked by reporters whether the US would prioritise the nuclear weapons issue, a senior administration official said ahead of the talks: “This is the first meeting of its kind. So, we expect to have a discussion of the full range of risks, but wouldn’t prejudge any specifics at this point.”
China’s rapid deployment of AI capabilities across civilian, military and national security sectors has often undermined the security of the US and its allies, the official said, adding the talks would allow Washington to directly communicate its concerns.
“To be very clear, talks with Beijing are not focused on promoting any form of technical collaboration or cooperating on frontier research in any matter. And our technology protection policies are not up for negotiation,” the official added.
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The US delegation will include officials from the White House and State and Commerce Departments, the White House National Security Council (NSC) said on Monday.
Reuters has reported that the Biden administration plans to put guardrails on US-developed proprietary AI models that power popular chatbots like ChatGPT, to safeguard the technology from countries such as China and Russia.
A second US official who was briefing reporters said Washington and Beijing were competing to shape the rules on AI, but also hoped to explore whether some rules could be “embraced by all countries”.
“We certainly don’t see eye to eye ... on many AI topics and applications, but we believe that communication on critical AI risks can make the world safer,” this official said.
NSC official Tarun Chhabra and Seth Center, the State Department’s acting special envoy for critical and emerging technology, will lead the talks with officials from China’s Foreign Ministry and state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to issue recommendations in coming weeks to address risks from AI, which he says will then be translated into piecemeal legislation.
He has cited competition with China and its divergent goals for AI, including surveillance and facial-recognition applications, as the reason for Washington’s need to take a lead in crafting laws around the rapidly advancing technology.
The Chinese authorities have been emphasising the need for the country to develop its own “controllable” AI technology. REUTERS
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