White House orders Pentagon and intel agencies to increase use of AI: The Biden administration is under pressure to speed up AI development while also safeguarding against potential risks associated with the technology. WP
White House pushes agencies to adopt AI for military, spy uses: BGov reports the Biden administration plans to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence for military and intelligence uses, directing agencies to obtain the most powerful systems in a safe and secure manner, according to plans outlined in a new national security memorandum. The ambition to deploy AI in ways that would include lethal force is driven by fears that the US could fall behind China’s efforts to rapidly advance its own cutting-edge efforts, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the memo before its release on Thursday and requested anonymity to discuss it.
+ “Our competitors want to upend US AI leadership and have employed economic and technological espionage in efforts to steal US technology,” according a White House fact sheet.
+ United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is leading the call for nations to sign a ban on lethal autonomous weapons by 2026, something that the US is not expected to join.
Biden to release AI national security memo: The memo will serve “as a formal charter for the AI Safety Institute” and a framework will provide agencies with new guidance, senior officials said. FedScoop
+ Under the memo, agencies will be directed to access “the most powerful AI systems and put them to use,” senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the memo ahead of its release said. The memo will also bolster the role of the AI Safety Institute and provide direction to agencies for AI use for national security.
WH Memo: Biden-Harris administration outlines coordinated approach to harness power of AI for US national security - Read the memo here.
Human scientists are still better than AI ones – for now: A simulator for the process of scientific discovery shows that AI models still fall short of human scientists and engineers in coming up with hypotheses and carrying out experiments on their own. NS
Big Tech has given itself an AI deadline: Why are AI execs suddenly saying that superintelligence is just around the corner? The Atlantic
The next wave of AI won’t be driven by LLMs - Here’s what investors should focus on instead Vivek Wadhwa
Masayoshi Son inflates the AI bubble even more Parmy Olson
Arm CEO sees AI transforming the world much faster than the internet: Rene Haas, the chief executive officer of Arm Holdings, says AI’s impact will be ‘quite, quite dramatic’ and there’s no holding back smart cars. Bloomberg
US approves massive lithium mine in Nevada, overriding protests: WP reports some environmentalists worry the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project could drive a rare wildflower to extinction, highlighting the trade-offs of the energy transition.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
