Frontier AI Regulation: Managing Emerging Risks to Public Safety

May 13, 2023

This podcast discusses the need for proactive regulation of Frontier AI models to manage risks. It explores challenges in regulating Frontier AI, proposes building blocks for regulation, and suggests safety standards. The chapters cover topics like oversight and governance, regulatory tools, licensing at the development stage, and the risks of premature government action. The podcast emphasizes the importance of compliance, expertise, and a balanced regulatory regime in AI safety.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

The Need for Governance and Oversight of Frontier AI

02:52 • 18min

Regulatory Tools and Licensing for AI Safety and Public Safety

20:34 • 4min

Licensing and Regulation at the Development Stage of Frontier AI Models

24:12 • 3min

The Risks of Premature Government Action and the Importance of Expertise in AI Regulation

27:06 • 3min

Advanced AI models hold the promise of tremendous benefits for humanity, but society needs to proactively manage the accompanying risks. In this paper, we focus on what we term “frontier AI” models — highly capable foundation models that could possess dangerous capabilities sufficient to pose severe risks to public safety. Frontier AI models pose a distinct regulatory challenge: dangerous capabilities can arise unexpectedly; it is difficult to robustly prevent a deployed model from being misused; and, it is difficult to stop a model’s capabilities from proliferating broadly. To address these challenges, at least three building blocks for the regulation of frontier models are needed: (1) standard-setting processes to identify appropriate requirements for frontier AI developers, (2) registration and reporting requirements to provide regulators with visibility into frontier AI development processes, and (3) mechanisms to ensure compliance with safety standards for the development and deployment of frontier AI models. Industry self-regulation is an important first step. However, wider societal discussions and government intervention will be needed to create standards and to ensure compliance with them. We consider several options to this end, including granting enforcement powers to supervisory authorities and licensure regimes for frontier AI models. Finally, we propose an initial set of safety standards. These include conducting pre-deployment risk assessments; external scrutiny of model behavior; using risk assessments to inform deployment decisions; and monitoring and responding to new information about model capabilities and uses post-deployment. We hope this discussion contributes to the broader conversation on how to balance public safety risks and innovation benefits from advances at the frontier of AI development.

Source:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.03718.pdf

Narrated for AI Safety Fundamentals by Perrin Walker of TYPE III AUDIO.

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A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

Learn more on the AI Safety Fundamentals website.