Deregulating tech may not be as helpful as the Trump administration thinks, with a Microsoft scientist stating that the recent move to ban US states from regulating AI technology could “hold us back” in the long run.
The race for AI supremacy has been a stressful one so far. US and Chinese companies alike have hit the ground running, advancing the technology at break-neck speeds in hopes of becoming the primary provider for this world-changing innovation.
As a result, the Trump presidency is trying to ban state-level regulation on AI, but some experts say that this could cause more problems than it solves.
No AI Regulation Will ‘Hold Us Back,’ Says Microsoft Scientist
At a meeting of the the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft’s chief scientist stated that bans on AI regulation could have a negative impact on the development of the technology.
“It’s up to us as scientists to communicate to government agencies, especially those right now who might be making statements about no regulation, this is going to hold us back. Guidance, regulation, and reliability controls are part of advancing the field, making the field go faster in many ways.” – Dr Eric Horvitz, chief scientist at Microsoft
This is at odds with what many believe, which is that regulations hamper progress by adding unnecessary red tape. However, according to the chief scientist from one of the biggest companies driving the evolution of AI, that is not necessarily the case.
Is Microsoft Against the Ban on AI Regulation?
Given this unambiguous opinion from the company’s chief scientist, it’s safe to assume that Microsoft is firmly and clearly against the state-level ban on AI regulation, right?
Unfortunately, that is somehow not the case. Reports show that Microsoft is still a part of the big tech lobbying effort to pass the bill banning AI regulation at the state level for at least 10 years, joining usual suspects Google, Meta, and Amazon, according to the Financial Times.
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So, how does Microsoft reconcile these seemingly at odds opinions? Well, the company has declined to comment, so we’ll never know.
Should AI Be Regulated?
Considering the “godfather of AI” has conservatively estimated that the technology has a 10-20% chance of causing an extinction level event for humans, it feels almost too obvious to state that AI should, in fact, be regulated.
Unfortunately, the race to develop AI to a point that will completely change the way the world works has become far too lucrative for any reasonable regulations to take hold. Big tech firms across the world are champing at the bit to become the primary purveyor of AI for everyone, and that kind of competition has a tendency to throw regulation to the wind.
There’s truly no telling what consequences await the human race in a world where AI is entirely unregulated, but there’s a good chance we’re going to find out sooner rather than later.
