VOA科学技术2023--Technology Industry Divided over How to Govern AI Development

Technology Industry Divided over How to Govern AI Development

Technology leaders have shown major support for laws to govern artificial intelligence use. At the same time, they are seeking to guarantee that any future AI rules work in their favor.

The technology industry is increasingly divided about how to govern AI. One side supports an "open science" method to AI development; the other supports a closed method.

Facebook parent Meta and IBM recently launched a new group called the AI Alliance. The group supports the "open science" method of AI development. On the other side are companies such as Google, Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

Safety is at the heart of the debate. But, tech leaders are also arguing about who should profit from AI developments.

What is open-source AI?

The term "open-source" comes from a common method of building software in which the code is widely available at no cost. Anyone can examine and make changes to it.

Open-source AI involves more than just code. Computer scientists differ on how to define "open source." They say the identifications are dependent on which parts of the technology are publicly available and if there are restrictions¹ on use.

Some computer scientists use the term "open science" to describe the wider philosophy.

IBM and Meta lead the AI Alliance. Members include Dell, Sony, chipmakers AMD and Intel, and several universities and smaller AI companies. The alliance is coming together to say "that the future of AI is going to be built ... on top of the open scientific exchange of ideas and on open innovation, including open source and open technologies," said Darío Gil of IBM. Gil made the comment in a discussion with The Associated Press.

Concerns about open-source AI

Part of the confusion about open-source AI is that the company that built ChatGPT and the image-generator DALL-E is called OpenAI. But its AI systems are closed.

"There are near-term and commercial incentives³ against open source," said Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist and co-founder, in a video with Stanford University in April.

But there is also a longer-term worry about the open development method. Sutskever noted⁴ one worry is that an AI system with powerful abilities could be too dangerous to make available to the public.

For example, he described a possible AI system that could learn how to start its own biological laboratory.

Even current AI models present risks. They could create disinformation campaigns, for example, said David Evan Harris of the University of California, Berkeley. Such campaigns could disrupt democratic elections, he said.

"Open source is really great in so many dimensions of technology," but AI is different, Harris said.

The Center for Humane⁵ Technology, a longtime critic of Meta's social media activities, is among the groups drawing attention to the risks of open-source or leaked AI models.

"As long as there are no guardrails in place right now, it's just completely irresponsible to be deploying⁶ these models to the public," said the group's Camille Carlton.

Benefits and dangers

An increasingly public debate has appeared over the good and bad of using an open-source method to AI development.

Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, this fall criticized OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic on social media for what he described as "massive corporate⁷ lobbying." Le Cun argues that the companies are trying to write rules in a way that help their high-performing AI models and could help them hold their power over the technology's development. The three companies, along with OpenAI's key partner Microsoft, have formed their own industry group called the Frontier Model Forum⁸.

LeCun said on X, formerly⁹ Twitter, "Openness is the only way to make AI platforms reflect the entirety of human knowledge and culture."

For IBM, the dispute feeds into a much longer competition that began before the AI boom. IBM was an early supporter of the open-source Linux operating system in the 1990s.

Chris Padilla leads IBM's international government affairs team. The companies are trying to raise fear about open-source innovation as they have in the past, he suggested.

He added, "I mean, this has been the Microsoft model for decades, right? They always opposed open-source programs that could compete with Windows or Office. They're taking a similar approach here."

Words in This Story

innovation – n. the act of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods

incentive² – n. something that encourages a person to do something

disrupt – v. to interrupt the normal progress or activity of something

dimension – n. a part of something

guardrail – n. a protective device along the side of a road that prevents vehicles from driving off the road (can be used metaphorically)

lobby – v. to try to influence government officials to make decisions for or against something

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

3 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

8 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

9 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。