JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Artificial intelligence is powerful and changing at lightning speed, and the world is trying to figure out how to put guardrails around it. This weekend, China came out swinging, attempting to position itself as the global AI leader. NPR's John Ruwitch joins us now. Hey there.
JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE: Hey. How's it going?
SUMMERS: Hey. So, John, when we talk about regulating AI, what kind of risks are people trying to prevent?
RUWITCH: It's a really wide array, from AI turbocharging cyberattacks to helping people make biological weapons to things like data privacy and deepfakes. You know, this technology is so new, so fast-moving and has so many uses that experts say it's really different from trying to regulate something like cigarettes or jet engines, where the risks are pretty well understood. So there are a lot of governments and organizations thinking about it. You've got the U.N., the European Union, and over the weekend, China stepped into the ring while hosting the World AI Conference, which wrapped up today in Shanghai.
SUMMERS: Yeah. And I understand Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave the keynote speech. What'd he have to say?
RUWITCH: Yes. He cast China as a country that wants to lead, really. He wants to push Chinese AI models out into the world, make sure it's done safely. And he made a pitch to help other countries ramp up their AI use. On top of that, China launched a new group called the World AI Cooperation Organization. It's got 29 founding members, including China, Russia, Brazil. Notably, though, the U.S. is not one of them. The Trump administration's been fairly disengaged when it comes to global regulation of AI and actually chafes at the idea of other countries telling American companies what they can do. So China staked out a different position. They're saying the world needs to work on this together. There needs to be leadership, and we're here to do it.
SUMMERS: So China's making this big play. The U.S. isn't a part of it. What should we make of that?
RUWITCH: I asked Samm Sacks about this. She's a senior fellow at the New America think tank.
SAMM SACKS: I think that this is a propaganda win at a time when the U.S. has created a void in global leadership, not just in terms of its position, working with allies and partners, but specifically in terms of thinking about how do we govern these technologies that we don't even know what they mean yet?
RUWITCH: You know, there's been a ton of ink spilled about competition between China and the U.S. over who has the best technology. But what Sacks is pointing out is that China's kind of sidestepping that aspect of the competition and instead focusing on influence - influence by leading this new consortium of countries, talking about regulation, while at the same time, expanding China's reach and clout by growing markets for Chinese AI.
SUMMERS: Could America get left out if it stays on the sidelines?
RUWITCH: Yeah. It's a possibility. I spoke to Lee Tiedrich about this one. She is an AI expert - AI policy expert at Duke University.
LEE TIEDRICH: There's a risk from the U.S. perspective that if we don't step up to the plate and make the investment and lead in developing some of these evaluation standards, you know, somebody else is going to do it.
RUWITCH: And right now, China's making a play to be that somebody else.
SUMMERS: So what is happening on this front in the U.S.?
RUWITCH: Yeah. It's complicated. There has been some movement on AI regulations in the U.S., and things seem to be accelerating, but there are a lot of different interests pulling and pushing in different directions. At the federal level, the administration came in promising to be hands off, but it's recently pivoted and it's started to vet cutting-edge AI models over cybersecurity risks.
At the state level, many states have enacted laws to try to keep AI safe, and there are more in the works. And then, tech leaders want to seat at the table. Three leaders of major AI companies have all made public proposals recently, but even they don't really agree on things like how much of a role companies in government should each play. So it's complicated. But fundamentally, polls show that Americans do want something to be done on AI.
SUMMERS: NPR's John Ruwitch. Thank you.
RUWITCH: You're welcome.
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