// HIGHLIGHT //
Voluntary measures a precursor to White House regulations on AI
There’s more than meets the eye in last week’s announcement that seven leading AI companies in the USA – Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI – agreed to implement voluntary safeguards. The announcement made it crystal clear that executive action on AI is imminent, indicating a shift to a higher gear towards AI regulation within the White House.
AI laws on the horizon
In comments after his meeting with AI companies, President Joe Biden spoke of plans for new rules: ‘In the weeks ahead, I’m going to continue to take executive action to help America lead the way toward responsible innovation.’ The White House also confirmed that it ‘is currently developing an executive order and bipartisan legislation to position America as a leader in responsible innovation’. In addition, the voluntary commitments state that they ‘are intended to remain in effect until regulations covering similar issues are officially enacted’.
In June, officials revealed they were already laying the groundwork for several policy actions, including executive orders, set to be unveiled this summer. Their work involved creating a comprehensive inventory of government regulations applicable to AI, and identifying areas where new regulations are needed to fill the gaps.
The extent of the White House’s shift in focus will be revealed when the executive order(s) are announced. One possibility is that they will focus on the same safety, security and trust aspects that the voluntary safeguards reflect on, mandating new rules to fill in the gaps. Another possibility, though less likely, is for the executive action to focus on tackling China’s growth in the AI race.
The voluntary measures
While the voluntary commitments address some of the main risks, they mostly encompass practices that companies are either already implementing or have announced, making them less impressive. In a way, the commitments appear reminiscent of the AI Pact announced by European Commissioner Thierry Breton as a preparatory step for the EU’s AI Act – a way for companies to get ready for impending regulations. In addition, these commitments apply primarily to generative models that surpass the current industry frontier in terms of power and scope.
The safeguards revolve around three crucial principles that should underpin the future of AI: Safety, security, and trust.
1. Safety: Companies have pledged to conduct security testing of their AI systems before release, employing internal and external experts to mitigate risks related to biosecurity, cybersecurity, and societal impacts. The White House previously endorsed a red-teaming event at DEFCON 31 (taking place in August), aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in popular generative AI tools through the collaboration of experts, researchers, and students.
2. Security: Companies have committed to invest in cybersecurity and insider threat safeguards, ensuring proprietary model weights (numeric parameters that machine learning models learn from data during training to make accurate predictions) are released only under intended circumstances and after assessing security risks. They have also agreed to facilitate third-party discovery and reporting of AI system vulnerabilities to support prompt action on any post-release challenges.
3. Trust: Companies have committed to developing technical mechanisms, such as watermarking, to indicate AI-generated content, promoting creativity while reducing fraud and deception. OpenAI is already exploring watermarking. Companies have also pledged to publicly disclose AI system capabilities, limitations, and appropriate/inappropriate use. They will also address security and societal risks, including fairness, bias, and privacy – again, a practice some companies already implement.
The industry’s response
Companies have welcomed the White House’s lead in bringing them together to agree on voluntary commitments (emphasis on voluntary). While they have advocated for future AI regulation in their testimonies and public remarks, the industry generally leans towards self-regulation as the preferred approach.
For instance, Meta’s Nick Clegg said the company was pleased to commit these voluntary commitments alongside others in the sector, which ‘create a model for other governments to follow’. (We’re unsure what he meant, given that other countries have already introduced new laws or draft rules on AI.) Microsoft’s Brad Smith’s comment went a step further, noting that the company is not only already implementing the commitments, but is going beyond them (see infographic).
Minimal impact on the international front
The White House said that its current work seeks to support and complement ongoing initiatives, including Japan’s leadership of the G7 Hiroshima Process, the UK’s leadership in hosting a Summit on AI Safety, India’s leadership in the Global Partnership on AI, and ongoing talks at the UN (no mention of the Council of Europe negotiations on AI though).
In practice, we all know how intergovernmental processes operate, along with the pace at which things generally unfold. So no immediate changes are expected.
Plus, the USA may well contemplate the regulation of AI companies within its own borders, but opening the doors to international regulation of its domestic enterprises is an entirely separate issue.
// ANTITRUST //
FTC suspends competition case in Microsoft’s Activision takeover
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has suspended its competition case against Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard, which was scheduled for a hearing in an administrative court in early August.
Since then, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard agreed to extend the deadline for closing the acquisition deal by 3 months to 18 October.
Why is it relevant? This indicates that the deal is close to being approved everywhere, especially since Microsoft and Sony have also reached agreements ensuring the availability of the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation – commitments which are appeasing the concerns raised by regulators who were initially opposed to the deal.
Microsoft faces EU antitrust complaint over bundling Teams with Office
Microsoft is facing a new EU antitrust complaint lodged by German company alfaview, centering on Microsoft’s practice of bundling its video app, Teams, with its Office product suite. Alfaview says the bundling gives Teams an unfair competitive advantage, putting rivals at a disadvantage.
The European Commission has confirmed receipt of the antitrust complaint, which was first announced by alfaview, and is said to be preparing to launch a formal investigation into Microsoft’s actions since the company’s remedies so far were deemed insufficient. Microsoft has been undergoing an informal investigation by the European Commission.
Why is it relevant? This is not the first complaint against Microsoft’s Teams-Office bundling: Salesforce lodged a similar complaint in 2020. The Commission doesn’t take lightly to anti-competitive practices, so we can expect it to come out against Microsoft’s practices in full force.
// DSA //
TikTok: Almost, but not quite
TikTok, a social media platform owned by a Chinese company, appears to be making progress towards complying with the EU’s Digital Services Act. It willingly subjected itself to a stress test, indicating its commitment to meeting the necessary requirements.
After a debrief with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton tweeted that the meeting was constructive, and that it was now time for the company ‘to accelerate to be fully compliant’.
Why is it relevant? TikTok is trying very hard to convince European policymakers of its commitment to protecting people’s data and to implementing other safety measures. Countries have been viewing the company as a security concern, prompting the company to double and triple its efforts at proving its trustworthiness. Compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) could help restore the company’s standing in Europe.
