AI

A.R.T.:

Re AI,

There’s a race going on between companies and between countries to develop ever more powerful Ai, driven by the fear that whoever slows down will be left behind. But no one knows where the finish line is—or what happens when we get there.

With the leaders of many of the largest Ai companies calling for regulations and an industry-wide slow down, establishing some basic regulations have become increasingly important. The public overwhelmingly wants this too.

Ai offers extraordinary possibilities in medicine, science and almost every other field. But its purpose must ultimately be to serve people - not simply to enrich a handful of corporations and investors.

We could begin with an international declaration of basic principles: human rights, transparency, accountability, public safety and responsibility for harm.

We should insist that Ai companies pay the full costs of the infrastructure they need—including electricity, water, environmental impacts and necessary expansion of public utilities—rather than shifting those costs to taxpayers and ratepayers. If Ai displaces workers, its economic benefits need to finance retraining and transition programs.

Finally, responsibility cannot disappear inside a computer program. Companies, governments and individuals should remain fully accountable under both civil and criminal laws for any harm caused by the use of Ai.

When automobiles were transforming the world, we developed traffic laws, safety standards, licensing, insurance and rules establishing responsibility when things go wrong.

If we can require seat belts, insurance and traffic laws for automobiles, surely, we can establish some guardrails and rules of the road for Ai now.

We learned how to regulate and manage automobiles only after millions of people were injured or killed.

With AI, we can, and must do better.