Center for AI Policy: US Open-Source AI Governance – Balancing Ideological and Geopolitical Considerations with China Competition

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This document from the Center for AI Policy and Yale Digital Ethics Center examines the contentious debate surrounding the governance of open-source artificial intelligence in the United States. It highlights the tension between the ideological values promoting open access and geopolitical considerations, particularly competition with China.

The authors analyze various policy proposals for open-source AI, creating a rubric that combines ideological factors like transparency and innovation with geopolitical risks such as misuse and global power dynamics. Ultimately, the paper suggests targeted policy interventions over broad restrictions to balance the benefits of open-source AI with national security concerns, emphasizing ongoing monitoring of technological advancements and geopolitical landscapes.

• The debate surrounding open-source AI regulation involves a tension between ideological values (innovation, transparency, power distribution) and geopolitical considerations, particularly US-China competition (Chinese misuse, backdoor risks, global power dynamics). Policymakers are grappling with how to reconcile these two perspectives, especially in light of advancements in Chinese open-source AI.

• Heavy-handed regulation like blanket export controls on all open-source AI models is likely sub-optimal and counterproductive. Such controls would significantly disrupt the development of specific-use applications, have limited efficacy against Chinese misuse, and could undermine US global power by discouraging international use of American technology.

• More targeted interventions are suggested as preferable to broad restrictions. The paper analyzes policies such as industry-led risk assessments for model release and government funding for an open-source repository of security audits. These approaches aim to balance the benefits of open-source AI with the need to address specific security risks more effectively and with less disruption to innovation.

• The nature of open-source AI, being globally accessible information, makes it inherently difficult to decouple the US and Chinese ecosystems. Attempts to do so through export controls may have unintended consequences and could be circumvented due to the ease of information transfer.

• Further research and monitoring are crucial to inform future policy decisions. Key areas for ongoing attention include tracking the performance gap between open and closed models, understanding the origins of algorithmic innovations, developing objective benchmarks for comparing models from different countries, and advancing technical safety mitigations for open models.