Author: Cade Metz / Source: New York Times
Chris Koehler
SAN FRANCISCO — A common belief among tech industry insiders is that Silicon Valley has dominated the internet because much of the worldwide network was designed and built by Americans.
Now a growing number of those insiders are worried that proposed export restrictions could short-circuit the pre-eminence of American companies in the next big thing to hit their industry, artificial intelligence.
In November, the Commerce Department released a list of technologies, including artificial intelligence, that are under consideration for new export rules because of their importance to national security.
Technology experts worry that blocking the export of A.I. to other countries, or tying it up in red tape, will help A.I. industries flourish in those nations — China, in particular — and compete with American companies.
“The number of cases where exports can be sufficiently controlled are very, very, very small, and the chance of making an error is quite large,” said Jack Clark, head of policy at OpenAI, an artificial intelligence lab in San Francisco. “If this goes wrong, it could do real damage to the A.I. community.”
The export controls are being considered as the United States and China engage in a trade war. The Trump administration has been critical of the way China negotiates deals with American companies, often requiring the transfer of technology to Chinese partners as the cost of doing business in the country. And federal officials are making an aggressive argument that China has stolen American technology through hacking and industrial espionage.
President Trump, right, with President Xi Jinping of China, left, during a bilateral meeting in December.
Tech companies, academics and policymakers are calling on the Commerce Department to take a light hand with A.I. export rules ahead of a Jan. 10 deadline for public comment. Their argument has three main points: Restrictions could harm companies in the United States and help international competitors. They could stifle technology improvements. And they may not make much of a difference.
In August, Congress passed the Export Controls Act of 2018, which added export restrictions to “emerging and foundational technologies.” In mid-November, the Commerce Department, tasked with overseeing the restrictions, published a list of technologies for consideration, including several categories of A.I. like computer vision, speech recognition and natural language understanding.
The restrictions would affect the export of technology to certain countries. Though it does not specify which ones, the Commerce Department proposal points to countries that have faced trade and arms embargoes in the past. Those include China, Russia and Iran.
The Commerce Department declined to comment on…
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