The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has issued a report outlining policy recommendations that promote artificial intelligence innovation while actively monitoring for potential risks associated with open AI systems.
NTIA said Tuesday the Report on Dual-Use Foundation Models with Widely Available Model Weights recommends that the U.S. government establish a program to gather evidence of risks, assess the collected evidence and act on those assessments.
When it comes to evidence collection, recommended activities include conducting research into the safety of consequential and powerful AI models, maintaining a set of risk-specific indicators and supporting external research into the present and future capabilities of dual-use foundation models and risk mitigations.
“The openness of the largest and most powerful AI systems will affect competition, innovation and risks in these revolutionary tools,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson.
“NTIA’s report recognizes the importance of open AI systems and calls for more active monitoring of risks from the wide availability of model weights for the largest AI models. Government has a key role to play in supporting AI development while building capacity to understand and address new risks,” added Davidson, assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information.