US, China meet in Geneva to discuss AI risks
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[May 13, 2024]
By Michael Martina and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. and China will meet in Geneva to discuss
advanced artificial intelligence on Tuesday, U.S. officials said,
stressing that Washington's policies would not be up for negotiation
even as the talks explore mitigating 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. U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi
broached the topic of AI in April 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 U.S.
declarations that only humans, and never artificial intelligence, would
make decisions on deploying nuclear weapons.
"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," a senior administration official told
reporters ahead of the meeting when asked if the U.S. would prioritize
the nuclear weapons issue.
China's rapid deployment of AI capabilities across civilian, military
and national security sectors often undermined the security of the U.S.
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.
Reuters has reported that the Biden administration plans to put
guardrails on U.S.-developed proprietary AI models that power popular
chatbots like ChatGPT to safeguard the technology from countries such as
China and Russia.
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An AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign is seen at the World Artificial
Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023.
REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
A second U.S. official 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," the second official said.
U.S. National Security Council 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.
U.S. 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
reason for Washington's need to take a lead in crafting laws around
the rapidly advancing technology.
Chinese authorities have been emphasizing the need for the country
to develop its own "controllable" AI technology.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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