Brad Smith, president and vice chairman of Microsoft (MSFT), said that the US government should intensify its activities aimed at creating and subsequently implementing measures to regulate the development and dissemination of artificial intelligence.
According to Smith, AI surpasses all other inventions recorded in the history of the Earth’s civilization in terms of the potential of its influence on the vital activity of mankind. He noted that artificial intelligence can be used everywhere. According to him, in the medical field, advanced technology can be applied to find medicines and diagnose diseases. AI can also become a tool of action in the process of resource mobilization. Many organizations, including the Red Cross, can use AI-based technologies to search for victims of natural disasters.
Smith stated that artificial intelligence is not a riddle and an unexplored mystery to the extent that many assume. According to him, the technology is simpler than some people think. He also noted that the power of AI is growing.
Commenting on concerns about the potential danger of artificial intelligence, the president of MSFT said that every technology that currently has a wide scope of application, at the time of its appearance and the first attempts to implement it, was perceived by many as a threat.
Smith stated that a safety period should be provided in the process of scaling AI technologies. In his opinion, interruptions in the functioning of artificial intelligence will be fixed for years. He stated that AI will change the content of people’s work. Smith believes that the introduction of artificial intelligence will form a new set of skills that humanity will need to master and develop.
The MSFT President also noted that in order to prevent cases like a fake photo of an explosion near the Pentagon, it is necessary to create a watermark system or use AI to identify the facts of the distribution of images with false content with signs of authenticity.
Smith stressed that it is important to find a balance between the regulation of deep forgeries, misleading advertising, and freedom of expression. He stated that currently, it is possible to embed something called metadata in the file. According to him, the introduction of changes should be defined as an imprint of something and look for it in the entire Internet space.
In the context of discussions about the US presidential election in 2024 and the threats of foreign interference in this process in the cyber environment arising against this background, Smith said that the technology sector should unite with governments as part of an international initiative.
The President of MSFT supported the creation of a government agency for the regulation of artificial intelligence systems. He noted the importance of not only the safe development of AI models but also their dissemination, for example, in data centers, where there is a potential threat of cyber attacks, physical danger, and national security.
Commenting on the proposal for a six-month pause in the development of artificial intelligence systems that are more powerful than GPT4, supported by Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, Smith said that the pace of development should not be slowed down, but accelerated, noting that China would join the suspension initiative with minimal probability.
The president of MSFT proposed to issue an executive order that will officially declare the intention of the US government to buy AI services only from those companies that implement security protocols of advanced technology. Smith noted that the world is moving forward, and care must be taken to ensure that the United States does not lag behind the global pace of development.
As we have reported earlier, Microsoft Makes Strategic Investment Into Builder.ai.
