Washington —

The White House announced the establishment of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office this week. This is another initiative taken by the Trump administration to ensure the United States’ leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) and coordinate the collaboration between the government and the private sector. The plan will enable the United States to increase investment in response to the rise of China’s AI strength, and it also requires the moral aspects of the development and application of AI in the United States to take a different path from China.



The National Defense Authorization Law clearly establishes artificial intelligence initiatives

Lynn Parker, deputy chief technology officer of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, served as the first director of the Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office. The Office of Artificial Intelligence Initiative belongs to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). 


The Chief Technology Officer of the White House, Michael Kratsios, who leads the department, said in a statement on January 12: “The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative will become an integral part of the federal government’s artificial intelligence work for many years to come. As the central hub of national artificial intelligence research and policies in the entire American innovation ecosystem."

The 4,000-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2021 US fiscal year passed by Congress last December includes the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020. With the entry into force of the National Defense Authorization Act, the White House National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office was established. According to this law, the US government will allocate 6.4 billion US dollars in the next five years for research on artificial intelligence and its applications. Non-military departments that directly benefited include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Institutes of Health.

In terms of military research and development of artificial intelligence, the AI ​​research and development budget of the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will increase to 459 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 50 million U.S. dollars over fiscal year 2020; the United States Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) The budget has also increased from US$242 million in fiscal year 2020 to US$290 million in fiscal year 2021.

Expert: Competing with China, US government investment in AI needs careful planning

Some experts believe that the US government needs to re-examine the overall strategy and increase investment in artificial intelligence research to maintain its initiative and respond to China's rise in the AI ​​field. Tony Samp, a policy consultant at DLA Piper and an associate senior researcher at the Center for New American Security, said: "US government agencies must do their best to use every dollar of investment in the field of artificial intelligence. ."

He told VOA: "When a city in China can invest billions of dollars in artificial intelligence research, the United States may not be willing to compete with them or other countries in artificial intelligence. The White House authorized by Congress. The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative will play a key role in coordinating the federal government’s AI research and development funding. Samp said that a large part of the U.S. artificial intelligence initiative strategy will be to capitalize on the massive private investment already made by U.S. leaders in the global science and technology field and their partnership with academia.




 In September last year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched eight artificial intelligence research institutions in cooperation with Amazon, Google, Intel, and Accenture. These private companies will contribute US$160 million to these new establishments. This is the first time that NSF has received direct funding from the private AI industry sector.

Samp said: "In the future, targeted increases in funding to make the federal government's data, models, and computing resources more available to U.S. artificial intelligence research and development experts will be important for the newly established National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office to successfully fulfill its mission. step."

The development of AI in the West emphasizes moral standards and has clear intentions against China

The development of "trusted" AI is one of the priorities of the US National Artificial Intelligence Initiative. China's alleged violation of human rights norms in the development of artificial intelligence has been criticized by Western countries.

The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act came into effect last year with the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, US Congressmen Johnson (Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-TX) and Lucas (Rep. Frank Lucas, R- OK) In a joint statement issued in December last year, the AI ​​Initiative “sends a signal to our allies and opponents: the United States will continue to be a global leader in the development and adoption of trusted artificial intelligence.”



Parker, the first director of the US National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, held a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France in February last year, representing the United States and Western countries in negotiating how to counter China's standards and norms in the field of artificial intelligence. Parker told the American political news website POLITICO at the time: “We will never apologize for wanting to use technology in a way that conforms to our values.” She said that the Western countries are united and can show “what China is doing now. refute".