US regulators on Tuesday took a first step toward drawing up new rules on artificial intelligence (AI) that could lead to the White House putting the brakes on new technologies such as ChatGPT.
The US Department of Commerce put out a call for input from industry actors that would serve to inform the administration of US President Joe Biden in drafting regulation on AI.
Biden last week said the jury is still out on whether AI poses a danger to society, but the move on Tuesday signaled that the White House is open to setting some ground rules.
Photo: REUTERS
“Just as food and cars are not released into the market without proper assurance of safety, so too AI systems should provide assurance to the public, government, and businesses that they are fit for purpose,” the commerce department said in a statement.
The US is home to the biggest innovators of tech and AI, including Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, but trails internationally in regulating the industry.
Biden has urged the US Congress to pass laws putting strict limits on big tech, but these have little chance of making headway given political divisions among lawmakers.
The lack of rules has given Silicon Valley freedom to put out new products and stoked fears that AI technologies would wreak havoc on society before the government can catch up.
Last month, Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk and a range of other CEOs and experts called for a pause in the development of powerful AI.
OpenAI has asked that its AI systems be subject to “rigorous safety evaluations” and said comprehensive regulation of the sector was needed.
“Our inquiry will inform policies to support AI audits, risk and safety assessments, certifications, and other tools that can create earned trust in AI systems,” US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson said.
The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) on Tuesday said that it has asked an EU watchdog to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT.
News of the request by the agency came as the French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty said it was investigating several complaints about ChatGPT and Italy’s data regulator was reviewing measures proposed by OpenAI in response to concerns that led the regulator to ban the chatbot temporarily.
The Italian regulator’s board was meeting on Tuesday.
“The AEPD understands that global processing operations that may have a significant impact on the rights of individuals require coordinated decisions at European level,” a spokesperson for the Spanish agency said in an e-mailed statement.
“Therefore, in the short term, it has requested that the issue of ChatGPT be included in the next Plenary of the European Data Protection Committee, so that harmonized actions can be implemented within the framework of the application of the General Data Protection Regulation,” the spokesperson said.
A plenary meeting of the committee, which includes representatives of national data privacy watchdogs, is scheduled for today.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS