A group of MIT leaders and scholars have released a series of policy briefs aimed at guiding U.S. policymakers in governing artificial intelligence (AI). The objective is to extend current regulatory and liability frameworks to cover AI, thereby limiting potential harm, and promoting social benefits resulting from its deployment.
The central paper entitled “A Framework for U.S. AI Governance: Creating a Safe and Thriving AI Sector,” suggests that AI tools can be regulated by existing government entities that already supervise the respective sectors. Identifying the purpose of AI tools is one of the key recommendations, as this can shape the regulation suiting those applications.
The project was created in response to the growing interest in and industry investment in AI over the last year. The European Union is noted as currently trying to finalize AI regulations with a model that assigns levels of risk to certain AI applications, a process that brings challenges such as countering misinformation, deepfakes, surveillance, and more.
The main policy brief describes how current policy could be extended to cover AI, using existing regulatory bodies and legal liability frameworks. Examining new technologies on the basis of intent and purpose could make it clear what existing regulations and regulators apply to a specific AI tool. Yet the multifaceted nature of AI systems can make governance a challenge. It is deemed crucial for AI providers to make clear the intent and purpose of AI tools, and for safeguards against misuse to be put into place.
The policy framework explores further novel aspects such as tech audits of new AI tools, the possibility of creating a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for AI, and the encouragement of further research on how to make AI beneficial to society in general.
At the heart of the policy briefs is the primary objective to strike a balance between safeguarding innovation in AI and providing effective oversight, as well as emphasizing the central role academic institutions play in shaping the intersection between technology and society.
