US wants ethics in AI technology, China wants dominance

By Boyko Nikolov

WASHINGTON, BM – China has sent a clear message to the world about the dominance of artificial intelligence technologies by 2030, and the United States intends not to lag behind them, but under different circumstances. This was stated by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. According to Austin, the United States accepts the challenge of competing with China in the field of artificial intelligence but will do so following ethical principles – something that the United States has been saying for a long time.

“China’s leaders have made clear they intend to be globally dominant in AI by the year 2030,” Lloyd J. Austin III said. “Beijing is already talking about using AI for a range of missions – from surveillance to cyberattacks to autonomous weapons.”

“In the AI ​​realm as in many others, we understand that China is our pacing challenge,” he said. “We’re going to compete to win, but we’re going to do it the right way. We’re not going to cut corners on safety, security, or ethics. And our watchwords are ‘responsibility’ and ‘results.’ And we don’t believe for a minute that we have to sacrifice one for the other.”

Austin told the commission that the United States is already working hard on military technology with artificial intelligence. He gave a short answer, saying that the departments dealing with these developments are working on at least 600 projects in this area. This is the first statement by an official from the administration of President Joe Biden, which gives at least some clarity about the progress of the United States in this area.

Austin reaffirmed the White House’s view that artificial intelligence would give the United States greater combat and military capabilities, allow it to carry out more military missions, but without violating US democratic principles.

To confirm these claims, Austin said the United States is working hard on the Salus project, which aims to use artificial intelligence to make high-precision predictions about water shortages, drugs, supplies, and the fight against the coronavirus epidemic.

Another project, but already in the field of defense is Pathfinder. This artificial intelligence system combines data from thousands of sensors to predict or identify a potential air threat.

Austin believes that artificial intelligence and the technologies that will use it will allow young Americans to join the ranks of the military. Their creativity, non-standard way of thinking, and their advanced abilities in working with new technologies, including artificial intelligence, open a unique opportunity for new staff and new jobs.

“We need to smarten up our sluggish pace of acquisition,” he said. “And we need to more vigorously recruit talented people and not scare them away. In today’s world, in today’s department, innovation cannot be an afterthought. It is the ballgame,” he added.

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