PAI is a US-led alliance which aims to foster the ethical development and deployment of AI technologies. Baidu was the only Chinese member.

The loss of Baidu’s expertise and any representation from China is devastating for PAI. Ethical AI development requires global cooperation to set acceptable standards which help to ensure safety while not limiting innovation.

Baidu has officially cited financial pressures for its decision to exit the alliance.

In a statement, Baidu wrote:

“Baidu shares the vision of the Partnership on AI and is committed to promoting the ethical development of AI technologies. 

We are in discussions about renewing our membership, and remain open to other opportunities to collaborate with industry peers on advancing AI.”

Directors from PAI hope to see Baidu renew its membership to the alliance next year.

Cooperation between American and Chinese firms

Cooperation between American and Chinese firms is getting more difficult as the world’s largest economies continue to implement sanctions on each other.

The US has criticised China for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, trade practices, its mass imprisonment and alleged torture of Uyghur Muslims in “re-education” camps, and breaking the semi-autonomy of Hong Kong.

In the tech world, much of the focus has been on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei – which the US accuses of being a national security threat. Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou last year on allegations of using the company’s subsidiaries to flout US sanctions against Iran. Two Canadian businessmen that were arrested in China shortly after Meng’s detention, in a suspected retaliation, were charged with spying by Beijing this week.

An increasing number of Chinese companies, including Huawei, have found themselves being added to an ‘Entity List’ in the US which bans American companies from working with them without explicit permission from the government.

The US added six Chinese AI companies to its Entity List last October, citing their role in alleged human rights violations.

Earlier this week, the US Commerce Department made an exception to Huawei’s inclusion on the Entity List which allows US companies to work with the Chinese giant for the purposes of developing 5G standards. Hopefully, we can see the same being done for AI companies.

However, on the whole, cooperation between American and Chinese firms is getting more difficult as a result of the political climate. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more cases of companies like Baidu dropping out of well-intentioned alliances such as PAI if sensible resolutions to differences are not sought.

(Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash)

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Speaking on Tuesday, Rear Adm. Brian Losey said AI is able to provide tactical guidance as well as anticipate enemy actions and mitigate threats. Adversaries with such technology will have a significant advantage.

Losey is retired from the military but is now a partner at San Diego-based Shield AI.

Shield AI specialises in building artificial intelligence systems for the national security sector. The company’s flagship Hivemind AI enables autonomous robots to “see”, “reason”, and “search” the world. Nova is Shield AI’s first Hivemind-powered robot which autonomously searches buildings while streaming video and generating maps.

During a panel discussion at The Promise and The Risk of the AI Revolution conference, Losey said:

“We’re losing a lot of folks because of encounters with the unknown. Not knowing when we enter a house whether hostiles will be there and not really being able to adequately discern whether there are threats before we encounter them. And that’s how we incurred most of our casualties.

The idea is: can we use autonomy, can we use edge AI, can we use AI for manoeuvre to mitigate risk to operators to reduce casualties?”

AI has clear benefits today for soldiers on the battlefield, national policing, and even areas such as firefighting. In the future, it may be vital for national defense against ever more sophisticated weapons.

Some of the US’ historic adversaries, such as Russia, have already shown off developments such as killer robots and hypersonic missiles. AI will be vital to equalising the capabilities and hopefully act as a deterrent to the use of such weaponry.

“If you’re concerned about national security in the future, then it is imperative that the United States lead AI so we that we can unfold the best practices so that we’re not driven by secure AI to assume additional levels of risk when it comes to lethal actions,” Losey said.

Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams has warned against robots making life-and-death decisions on the battlefield. Williams said it is ‘unethical and immoral’ and can never be undone.

Williams was speaking at the UN in New York following the Project Quarterback announcement from the US military which uses AI to make decisions on what human soldiers should target and destroy.

“We need to step back and think about how artificial intelligence robotic weapons systems would affect this planet and the people living on it,” said Williams during a panel discussion.

It’s almost inevitable AI will be used for military purposes. Arguably, the best we can hope for is to quickly establish international norms for their development and usage to minimise the unthinkable potential damage.

One such norm that many researchers have backed is that AI should only make recommendations on actions to take, but a human should take accountability for any decision made.

A 2017 report by the Human Rights Watch chillingly concluded that no-one is currently accountable for a robot unlawfully killing someone in the heat of a battle.

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The study, by the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), was published on Thursday.

US tech giant IBM is leading in AI patents with 8,920 filed. Microsoft followed with 5,930.

Japan’s Toshiba has the next highest number of patents (5,223), ahead of South Korea’s Samsung (5,102), and Japan’s NEC Group (4,406).

Chinese organisations make up 17 of the top 20 academic players in AI patenting, as well as 10 of the top 20 in AI-related scientific publications.

Machine learning is currently the most patented technique of artificial intelligence.The fastest growing, however, is deep learning with a 175 percent annual increase in patent applications from 2013 to 2016.

In terms of applications, ‘AI for robotics’ grew the fastest over the same period with an increase of 265 percent.

When delving into the growth of AI use per industry, transportation was by far the fastest growing (134%) which is of little surprise considering the investment around self-driving vehicles.

This industry was followed by telecommunications (84%), life and medical sciences (40%), and personal devices, computing, and HCI (36%).

With their large economies and populations, it’s unsurprising to see the US and China leading in AI.

Andrew Ng, renowned AI expert and CEO of DeepLearning.ai, said in the report: “It’s very difficult for other countries, even those with great education, to compete with the business, engineering, and investing talent” of China and the US.

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry noted how the cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe is an obstacle to machine learning.

Gurry fears a growing use of AI for military purposes by major geopolitical players, but that AI overall could be good for mankind if used properly.

“Is it (AI) good news or bad news? Well, I would tend to say that all technology is somewhat neutral and it depends on what you do with it,” he commented.

”So, insofar as you may use AI science and techniques for developing autonomous weapons systems that are going to kill us all, is not very good news. Insofar as it’s being used to improve health indicators for diagnostics, for other purposes, it’s great news.”

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The simulation run by the McKinsey Global Institute shows artificial intelligence has the possibility to add 1.2 percent to annual gross domestic product growth until at least 2030.

For perspective, that represents $13 trillion of additional global economic activity. Such growth is equivalent to other landmark developments such as that of the steam engine.

AI is among the most sought-after technologies globally. Much like 5G, countries are vying to become leaders in the space.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said:

“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict.

Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

China and the US, the world’s largest economies, are the other major players in the AI race who aim to fully utilise the rapidly advancing technology in order to retain their lead.

Beijing has already set out its five-year plan which includes AI. The nation aims to be a leader by 2030.

Compared to the global average, China’s labour productivity is low and the economy is becoming reliant on consumption. Without AI, it’s likely the country will struggle to achieve its target growth rate.

Despite the economic benefits. there continues to be a concern about AI increasing wealth inequality.

“The productivity-enhancing, labour-saving technology is a challenging issue for all of the economies in the world,” Takashi Miwa, chief Japan economist at Nomura, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Like many experts, Miwa believes AI poses a threat to low-skilled jobs.

There will also be a severe disparity between countries. According to the McKinsey analysis, developed countries – likely to emerge as AI leaders – are set to benefit economically 20 to 25 percent more than current levels.

Emerging markets could only gain half of that, according to the report.

Are you surprised by the prediction?

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Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment firm, highlights China’s resources and ambitious plans for an intelligent economy based on AI.

The report is titled “China’s Rise in Artificial Intelligence” and says both companies and the Chinese government are putting their weight behind AI. In fact, back in July, the Chinese government announced it will increase government spending on core AI programs to $22 billion in the next few years, with plans to spend nearly $60 billion per year by 2025.

“We believe AI technology will become a priority on the government’s agenda, and we expect further national/regional policy and funding support on AI to follow,” the bank said.

Chinese giant Baidu has made a name for itself as one of the leaders in AI development. The company is often seen as the Chinese equivalent to Google, a company which is seen to be leading AI development in the West.

Guidelines on developing AI

China’s State Council has issued guidelines on developing AI in China and set the goal to become a global innovation center by 2030. The output value of AI is expected to surpass 1 trillion yuan ($147.80 billion)

AI requires vast amounts of data, and this is an area where China thrives due to its large population. The country is also known for its ‘Great Firewall’ and control over what content is able to be accessed, and from what providers.

“China understandably generates (about) 13 percent of the digital information globally. By 2020, we expect this to grow to around 20 percent to 25 percent as China’s economy emerges as the world’s largest,” Goldman Sachs predicts.

The firm also predicts China will generate around 9 to 10 zetabytes (about 1 trillion gigabytes) of data.

In order to gain the full value of AI, Goldman Sachs has identified four areas needed: talent, data, infrastructure, and computing power. Goldman believes China meets these criteria and has a ripe opportunity to take a lead in AI.

Do you think China will overtake the US in AI development?

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