Regulation can encourage innovation, but what does it take to improve? Lessons from the case of the 2008 global financial crisis from the example of the IAEA

Biden has an executive order that touches about everything the federal government does. It requires that there are clear standards to protect rights and safety for all government agencies.

Sunak stated that the United Kingdom is not in a rush to regulate. “This is a point of principle — we believe in innovation,” he said. But innovation and regulation need not be in opposition. The world needs both.

Fortunately, there is a wealth of literature on regulation — from banking to medicines to food to road safety — on which governments can draw. Civil nuclear technology could be useful for the creation of Artificial Intelligence, as was demonstrated by the example of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It can be found at the website: http://doi.org/k3h2.

There are fundamental principles that have emerged over decades of regulatory experience. One is the necessity for transparency, and for regulators to have access to complete data to allow them to make the right decisions. Another is the need for legally binding standards for monitoring, compliance and liability.

The 2008 global financial crisis shows what can happen when regulators don’t look closely at relevant data. Regulators didn’t know, or were unable to detect, that banks and insurance companies had invested hundreds of billions of dollars in loans in opaque ‘black box’ financial products that were, ultimately, dependent on risky credit — until it was too late. Relatively few people understood how these products had been created or what their systemic risks were, as Andrew Haldane and Robert May described in the aftermath (A. G. Haldane & R. M. May Nature 469, 351–355; 2011).

Other mainstays of regulation include registration, regular monitoring, reporting of incidents that could cause harm, and continuing education, for both users and regulators. Lessons about road safety are offered here. The car has changed the lives of billions but has also caused harm. Compulsory driver training and licensing, as well as an insurance-based legal framework to assess and apportion liability in accidents are some of the ways in which manufacturers need to be compliant with product safety standards. Regulation can encourage innovation. The development of cleaner vehicles was influenced by emissions standards.

Bidenland, where WIRED was born: Artificial intelligence & climate science in the early stage of AI (review of Vice President Biden)

At this early stage of AI’s development, everyone seems to be drawing on their favourite historical analogies. The need for a body that was similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was talked about by Sunak. The Asilomar conference was held in 1975 to warn about the need for bio safety controls for DNA modification. What these examples can offer is limited. For one thing, corporations and their research staff were not the dominant actors in climate science and DNA modification in the way they are in AI.

Tiny superheroes, fun-size dinosaurs, and overgrown insects squealed at the White House on Monday. The costumed children dressed up in Halloween costumes were not present for the announcement of the new executive order on artificial intelligence. The US government is trying to finish its new to-do list, but the Vice President is going to a summit in the UK to try and sell the president’s vision.

In Bidenland, where WIRED was Monday afternoon, everything’s fine. The landmark executive order is a testament to what we stand for, according to Biden, who was dressed in scary Washington power suits. For a moment, another potential government shutdown just 18 days away and China’s determination to leapfrog US technological dominance seemed like just scary stories.

The executive order will allow it to require companies to prove that their most powerful systems are safe before they’re allowed to use them.

Vice President Harris was at his side for the announcement but is taking his AI vision on the road for the rest of the week. She will be focusing on far-off artificial intelligence risks at the UK summit hosted by Prime Minister Sunak.