OpenAI has published a new Economic Blueprint that it says the American government should follow to ensure equitable access to AI while “driving economic growth across communities nationwide.”
The document produced by the ChatGPT owner cites the United States’ successful history of free market innovation as the way forward for artificial intelligence, taking advantage of an estimated $175 billion available in global funds for further investment.
It suggests that the US must lead the way to ensure that ‘autocrats’ aren’t able to shape the future of AI for the purposes of their own means, specifically marking out the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence as a concern.
Rules of the Road for AI
OpenAI unveiled the full AI in America – OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint document in a statement on its website, dubbing it a set of “policy proposals for extending America’s global leadership in AI innovation” and saying that the living document will be continuously updated.
It starts with a foreword from the company’s Vice President of Global Affairs, Chris Lehane, who draws an analogy between the embryonic years of the automobile industry and the current state of artificial intelligence.
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The US became the heart of the world’s auto industry, he says, thanks in part to the fact the “the federal government cleared the way to scale transport by car.”
“America has faced such moments before, and we know how to think big, build big, and act big.” – Chris Lehane, OpenAI
It then sets out OpenAI’s position and principles, before digging into three key areas of focus – Competitiveness and Security, Rules of the Road, Infrastructure as Destiny – while also saying that company CEO Sam Altman will meet with other prominent figures in the industry in Washington later on the month to discuss the path forward.
Competitiveness and Security
“Chips, data, energy, and talent are the keys to winning on AI — and this is a race America can and must win,” states the blueprint, warning that a failure to do so will allow Chinese-backed projects to strengthen the superpower’s own position. Previous studies have suggested that China is outpacing US in AI use in the workplace, for example.
It’s the relationship between competitiveness and security that seems to be top of the agenda for OpenAI.
“We believe that making sure AI benefits the most people possible means enabling AI through common-sense rules aimed at protecting people from actual harms, and building democratic AI shaped by the values the US has always stood for.” – OpenAI
It outlines three ways in which the US industry can thrive and, at the same time, blunt the threat from overseas:
- [Encouraging] a free market promoting free and fair competition that drives innovation
- Freedom for developers and users to work with and direct our tools as they see fit, in
exchange for following clear, common-sense standards that help keep AI safe for
everyone, and being held accountable when they don’t - Preventing government use of AI tools to amass power and control their citizens, or to
threaten or coerce other states
Together with setting confidence-building ground rules for the industry to abide by and investing heavily in infrastructure, the blueprint suggests that these tenets will ensure AI that is “built on a foundation of the democratic values the US has always stood for”.
Can Blueprint Catalyze Reindustrialization?
“If done right,” the report says, “the developers who are AI’s Main Street will thrive along with companies of all sizes, and the broad economic benefits of the technology will catalyze a reindustrialization across the country.”
But getting the ground rules right for its development in the near future is paramount to ordinary citizens, as well as businesses; results from a study carried out by the World Economic Forum published only last week suggest that 41% of companies will cut jobs due to AI within five years.
Interestingly, the blueprint calling for greater government investment in AI is published in the wake of news that OpenAI is losing money on its ChatGPT Pro subscription service.
