The Biden administration announced comprehensive rules Monday on how AI chips and models can be shared with foreign countries, seeking to establish a global framework that will guide how artificial intelligence spreads around the world in the future.
As the power of AI grows rapidly, the Biden administration said rules are needed to keep the transformative technology under the control of the U.S. and its allies and out of the hands of adversaries who could use it to augment their military forces and carry out missions and conduct cyberattacks. It threatens America.
Tech companies protested that the new rules threatened their sales and the future prospects of the U.S. tech industry.
The rules place various limits on the number of AI chips companies can send to different countries, essentially dividing the world into three categories. The US and its 18 closest partners, including the UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, are exempt from all restrictions and can freely purchase AI chips.
In countries already subject to a US arms embargo, such as China and Russia, the existing ban on purchasing AI chips will continue to apply.
All other countries (most of the world) will be subject to restrictions limiting the number of AI chips they can import, but countries and companies can increase that number by signing special agreements with the U.S. government. This regulation may burden some foreign governments. Even countries that are close trading partners or military allies of the United States, such as Mexico, Switzerland, Poland, and Israel, will be restricted from purchasing larger amounts of U.S. AI products.
The rule is intended to prevent China from acquiring the technology needed to produce artificial intelligence from other countries, after the United States banned sales of artificial intelligence to China in recent years.
But the regulation also has broader goals. That means choosing our allies as places where companies can build the world’s largest data centers, in an effort to keep the most advanced AI models within the United States and partner countries.
Governments around the world, especially in the Middle East, have been investing money in attracting and building large-scale data centers to become centers for the next generation of AI development.
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters on Sunday that the rule would ensure that the infrastructure for training the most advanced artificial intelligence remains under the jurisdiction of the United States or a close ally and “ensure that that capability does not go overseas.” said. “We had to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to bring chips, batteries and other industries back home.”
Sullivan said the rule would address national security threats from malicious actors who could “turn American technology against us while providing greater clarity to our international partners and industry.”
It is up to the Trump administration to decide whether to maintain the new rules and how to enforce them. Biden administration officials said on a call with reporters Sunday that the rule has bipartisan support and that they are consulting with the incoming administration on it.
Although Chinese companies have begun developing their own AI chips, the global market for these semiconductors is dominated by American companies, especially Nvidia. This dominance gives the U.S. government the ability to regulate the flow of AI technology globally by restricting exports from U.S. companies.
Companies have protested these restrictions, saying they could hinder harmless or even beneficial types of computing, anger U.S. allies and ultimately force global buyers to buy non-American products, such as those made in China.
Ned Finkel, Nvidia’s vice president of government affairs, said in a statement that the rule was “unprecedented and wrong” and “risks derailing innovation and economic growth around the world.”
“Far from mitigating any threat, the new Biden rules will only weaken America’s global competitiveness and undermine the innovation that has kept America ahead,” he said. Nvidia shares were down more than 2% Monday morning.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement that the company was confident it could “fully comply with the high security standards of this rule and meet the technology needs of the countries and customers around the world who trust us.”
In a letter to congressional leaders on Sunday seen by The New York Times, Jason Oxman, president of the Information Technology Industry Council, a group representing technology companies, said Congress should intervene and use its power to We requested that the action be reversed. The Trump administration did not.
John Neufer, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, said, “We are very disappointed that a policy change of this scale and impact is being rushed through without any meaningful input from the industry just days before the presidential transition.”
“The stakes are high and the timing is difficult,” Mr. Neuffer added.
This regulation, which runs over 200 pages, also establishes a system through which companies operating data centers, such as Microsoft and Google, can apply for special government certification.
In exchange for following certain security standards, these companies will be able to trade AI chips more freely around the world. Companies would still have to agree to keep 75% of their total AI computing power within the U.S. or its allies and to deploy no more than 7% of their computing power in any other single country.
These rules also establish the first control over an AI model’s weights, a parameter unique to each model that determines how the artificial intelligence predicts. Companies establishing data centers overseas must adopt security standards to protect this intellectual property and prevent attackers from accessing it.
Governments facing restrictions can increase the number of AI chips they can freely import by signing a contract with the U.S. government. The agreement agrees to meet U.S. goals for protecting AI.
Following guidance from the U.S. government, Microsoft agreed last year to work with the United Arab Emirates company G42 in exchange for G42 removing Huawei equipment from its systems and taking other measures.
The Biden administration could issue more regulations related to chips and AI in the future, including an executive order encouraging domestic energy production for data centers and new rules aimed at keeping cutting-edge chips out of China. Simui said.
The latter rule is a response to an incident last year in which U.S. officials found that Huawei, a Chinese telecom company under U.S. sanctions, had obtained components for AI chips manufactured by a major Taiwanese chip company in violation of U.S. export rules. . controls.
The announcement is one of a number of new regulations the Biden administration will rush to announce before the presidential transition as it seeks to close loopholes and solidify its legacy of countering China’s technological advancements. The administration announced new restrictions on exports of chip-making equipment to China and other countries, proposed new restrictions on Chinese drones, added new Chinese companies to a military blacklist and finalized new subsidies for U.S. chip manufacturing. I was in a hurry.
But the AI regulations announced Monday appear to be one of the most comprehensive and consequential of these measures. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how scientists conduct research, how companies allocate tasks among employees, and how the military operates. While AI has many beneficial uses, U.S. officials have grown concerned that it could enable the development of new weapons, help countries spy on dissidents and upend the global balance of power.
Jimmy Goodrich, senior adviser for technology analysis at the RAND Corporation, said the rule would create a framework to protect U.S. security interests while allowing companies to compete abroad. “They are also forward-thinking, trying to preserve U.S. and allied-led supply chains before they are transferred overseas to the highest subsidy bidder,” he said.
