A large majority of American voters are skeptical of the argument that the US should move to build increasingly powerful artificial intelligence, unfettered by national regulations, in an effort to compete with China, according to a new poll shared exclusively with TIME.
The findings indicate that American voters disagree with a common narrative imposed by the tech industry, in which CEOs and lobbyists have repeatedly argued that the US must tread carefully with AI regulation lest it hand over the advantage to its geopolitical rival. . And they reveal a surprising level of bipartisan consensus on AI policy, with Republicans and Democrats alike supporting the government in placing some limits on AI development in favor of safety and national security.
According to the poll, 75% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans believe that “taking a careful and controlled approach” to AI – preventing the release of tools that terrorists and foreign adversaries could use against the US – is preferable to “advancing front”. AI as quickly as possible to be the first country to obtain extremely powerful AI.” A majority of voters support stricter security practices at AI companies and are concerned about the risk of China stealing their most powerful models, the poll shows.
The survey was carried out in late June by the AI Policy Institute (AIPI), a US non-profit organization that advocates “a more cautious path” in the development of AI. The findings show that 50% of voters believe the US should leverage its advantage in the AI race to prevent any country from building a powerful AI system by enforcing “security restrictions and aggressive testing requirements.” This compares to just 23% who believe the US should try to build powerful AI as quickly as possible to overtake China and gain a decisive advantage over Beijing.
The poll also suggests that voters may be broadly skeptical of “open source” AI, or the view that technology companies should be allowed to release the source code of their powerful AI models. Some technologists argue that open source AI encourages innovation and reduces the monopoly power of the biggest technology companies. But others say it’s a recipe for danger as AI systems become more powerful and unpredictable.
“What I see in the research is that stopping the development of AI is not seen as an option,” says Daniel Colson, executive director of AIPI. “But giving free rein to the industry is also seen as risky. And then there is the desire for a third way. And when we present this in research – this third path, the mitigated development of AI with protective barriers – it is the one that people overwhelmingly want.”
The poll also shows that 63% of American voters think it should be illegal to export powerful AI models to potential US adversaries like China, including 73% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats. Only 14% of voters disagree.
A sample of 1,040 Americans were interviewed for the survey, which was representative by education levels, gender, race, and political parties for whom respondents voted in the 2020 presidential election. The margin of error given for the results is 3.4% both ways.
So far, there has been no comprehensive regulation of AI in the US, with the White House encouraging different government agencies to regulate the technology themselves when it falls within their existing remit. This strategy appears to have been put in jeopardy, however, by a recent Supreme Court ruling decision this limits the ability of federal agencies to apply general rules set by Congress to specific or new circumstances.
“Congress is so slow to act that there is a lot of interest in being able to delegate authorities to existing agencies or a new agency, to increase the government’s responsiveness” when it comes to AI policy, says Colson. “That [ruling] definitely makes it harder.
Even though federal legislation on AI seems unlikely in the near future, much less before the 2024 elections, recent polls from AIPI and others suggest that voters are not as polarized on AI as they are on other issues facing the country. A previous AIPI poll found that 75% of Democrats and 80% of Republicans believe U.S. AI policy should seek to prevent AI from rapidly achieving superhuman capabilities. Polls also showed that 83% of Americans believe AI could accidentally cause a catastrophic event, and that 82% would prefer to slow AI development to account for that risk, compared to just 8% who would like to see it. accelerated.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
