The U.S. Strives For Hegemony In Artificial Intelligence

On October 24, 2024 Joe Biden signed a memorandum with a long title: “…on Advancing the United States’ Leadership in Artificial Intelligence; Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Fulfill National Security Objectives; and Fostering the Safety, Security, and Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence.”

This document extends the effect of the presidential decree of October 30, 2023 on the use of artificial intelligence on a global scale. In fact, it is said that it is necessary to establish a monopoly in this area, where Washington will determine what can be done and what cannot be done. Inasmuch as envisioned by the White House, the Western “rules-based order” should also be applied in the Internet, including new programs and applications.

The document openly states that: “First, the United States must lead the world’s development of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI.  To that end, the United States Government must — in partnership with industry, civil society, and academia — promote and secure the foundational capabilities across the United States that power AI development.  The United States Government cannot take the unmatched vibrancy and innovativeness of the United States AI ecosystem for granted; it must proactively strengthen it, ensuring that the United States remains the most attractive destination for global talent and home to the world’s most sophisticated computational facilities.  The United States Government must also provide appropriate safety and security guidance to AI developers and users, and rigorously assess and help mitigate the risks that AI systems could pose.”

“Second, the United States Government must harness powerful AI, with appropriate safeguards, to achieve national security objectives.  Emerging AI capabilities, including increasingly general-purpose models, offer profound opportunities for enhancing national security, but employing these systems effectively will require significant technical, organizational, and policy changes.  The United States must understand AI’s limitations as it harnesses the technology’s benefits, and any use of AI must respect democratic values with regard to transparency, human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, privacy, and safety.”

“Third, the United States Government must continue cultivating a stable and responsible framework to advance international AI governance that fosters safe, secure, and trustworthy AI development and use; manages AI risks; realizes democratic values; respects human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy; and promotes worldwide benefits from AI.  It must do so in collaboration with a wide range of allies and partners.  Success for the United States in the age of AI will be measured not only by the preeminence of United States technology and innovation, but also by the United States’ leadership in developing effective global norms and engaging in institutions rooted in international law, human rights, civil rights, and democratic values.”

On the example of the work of IT giants and capitalists in Silicon Valley – Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, etc., the whole world knows what civil liberties and democratic values really are when American companies deal with these issues. These are censorship, algorithmic manipulation, social engineering and the use of personal data without the consent of their owners. With artificial intelligence, it will be easier to do all this, because you can always refer to a’ technical error’.

Attention should also be paid to the problem with the so-called “brain drain”, because the memorandum openly says that “It is the policy of the United States Government that advancing the lawful ability of noncitizens highly skilled in AI and related fields to enter and work in the United States constitutes a national security priority.  Today, the unparalleled United States AI industry rests in substantial part on the insights of brilliant scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs who moved to the United States in pursuit of academic, social, and economic opportunity.”

This is a clear indication that Washington will try to recruit foreign scientists and specialists under a variety of pretexts to lure them into its companies. And since they are talking about national security, it is obviously in the interests of the United States to involve those people who are engaged in secret developments in other countries.

It is indicative that the document instructs the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use all available legal authorities to assist in attracting and rapidly bringing to the United States individuals with relevant technical expertise. The document also gives 180 days of the date of the memorandum, to prepare an analysis of the AI talent market in the United States and overseas. The same term is given to coordinate an economic assessment of the relative competitive advantage of the United States private sector AI ecosystem, the key sources of the United States private sector’s competitive advantage, and possible risks to that position, and shall recommend policies to mitigate them. The national security agencies are given half as much – within 90 days the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA) shall convene appropriate executive departments and agencies (agencies) to explore actions for prioritizing and streamlining administrative processing operations for all visa applicants working with sensitive technologies.  Doing so shall assist with streamlined processing of highly skilled applicants in AI and other critical and emerging technologies.

Consequently, in the near future, US agents through embassies and other institutions will begin to scan other countries for experience in the field of AI development, as well as begin recruiting foreigners.

Admittedly, the US law enforcement agencies and intelligence are now obliged to introduce AI into their activities more actively. The memorandum stipulates that “DOD, Commerce, DOE, DHS, ODNI, NSF, NSA, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, prioritize research on AI safety and trustworthiness.  As appropriate and consistent with existing authorities, they shall pursue partnerships as appropriate with leading public sector, industry, civil society, academic, and other institutions with expertise in these domains, with the objective of accelerating technical and socio-technical progress in AI safety and trustworthiness.  This work may include research on interpretability, formal methods, privacy enhancing technologies, techniques to address risks to civil liberties and human rights, human-AI interaction, and/or the socio-technical effects of detecting and labeling synthetic and authentic content (for example, to address the malicious use of AI to generate misleading videos or images, including those of a strategically damaging or non-consensual intimate nature, of political or public figures).”

By the way, the document also has a classified part that is related to US national security issues. It probably talks about various methods directed against other countries in order to prevent them from gaining advantages in the AI and critical technologies.

As for the defense and security sector, those companies and startups that have already proven themselves in this area will clearly benefit here. In particular, Peter Thiel’s Palantir, which performed contracts for the FBI, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the NSA, the Pentagon, the CIA, for US defense companies, and also provided its products to Israel and Ukraine.

Peter Thiel: From Gaza AI War Criminal To White House Puppet Master

Moreover, the Pentagon has long been working on the introduction of artificial intelligence into its combat capabilities, which is confirmed by the contracts of the US Southern Command with Microsoft to create special cloud servers and use the DALL-E AI application in command and control programs.

Therefore, Joe Biden’s recent memorandum is only a confirmation of previously established trends, where the US intelligence and military already have some experience and potential.

https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/us-strives-hegemony-artificial-intelligence

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