(OpenAI’s AI in America Blueprint available. Document #46-250205-019X.)
OpenAI published its AI In America document on Jan. 13, describing what it believes should be guidelines for the technology. OpenAI draws comparisons to early automobiles, noting that despite originally being invented in Europe, the technology quickly became foundational in the United States and allowed the country to thrive. The United States led the way because of how it handled the new technology. The United Kingdom passed laws requiring flag bearers to walk ahead of cars as a warning and limited speeds to 4 miles per hour. While in the United States, a private-public sector partnership helped unlock the technology and resulting economic boom. As a result, the United States became the leader of the automobile industry, OpenAI says.
“The country became the heart of the world’s auto industry, mass-producing affordable cars with the help of local, state and federal officials who saw the industry’s potential. Public safety concerns over horse-drawn vehicles on crowded city streets prompted local officials to support the switch to cars — not make cars yield to horses. The country’s size prompted states to invest in better roads. And the federal government cleared the way to scale transport by car with a national — rather than state-by-state — highway system,” OpenAI says.
Automobiles
Just as with automobiles, regulation at the federal level can impose “clear, common-sense standards” that ensure responsible and safe usage of AI, OpenAI says. “Straightforward, predictable rules that safeguard the public while helping innovators thrive can encourage investment, competition, and greater freedom for everyone,” OpenAI says.
“To us, this means that in the same way the federal government helped clear the way for the nascent automobile industry to grow, including by preempting a state-by-state tangle of roads and rules, it should clear the way for the AI industry’s development of frontier models to best ensure that they promote US economic and national security.
“To be clear, by ‘frontier models,’ we are referring to the most state-of-the-art large language models that lead on capability benchmarks. Responsibly exporting these models to our allies and partners will help them stand up their own AI ecosystems, including their own developer communities innovating with AI and distributing its benefits,” OpenAI says.
OpenAI says the race to be the leader in AI technology is one the United States must win. Unless the United States takes the lead, some $175 billion in waiting AI investment funding will flow to China and strengthen that country’s influence.
Roads Forward
To ensure this leadership, OpenAI urges the United States to share national security-related information with leading U.S. AI companies to ensure security and incentivize AI companies to distribute their products widely to allies and partners. Sharing risks and providing access to secure and classified computing infrastructure will help researchers and others evaluate security risks and safeguards, OpenAI says.
Among the solutions OpenAI suggests to ensure that the United States leads the way are streamlined access to capital and supply chains for the U.S. and its allies, the creation of economic zones and research labs and a nationwide education strategy and investment infrastructure.
OpenAI says it is committed to working with policymakers to ensure that AI develops in a way that is in the national interest and public good. OpenAI noted that its CEO will be in Washington, D.C., this week to preview how AI can drive economic growth and ensure that the benefits reach people from all walks of life.