NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson announced Wed. the launch of the agency's public consultation process related to its forthcoming report to President Joe Biden on the risks, benefits and regulatory approaches to AI foundation models, as directed in a Biden AI executive order (see 2310300056). Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for Democracy and Technology, Davidson said the report will focus on pragmatic AI policies rooted in technical, economic and legal realities of the technology. The Biden order gave the Commerce Department 270 days to get public input and deliver the AI recommendations. Davidson said.
Dish Network followed the FCC-set verification procedure when enrolling people in the emergency broadband benefit (EBB) program, the company said Tuesday in a docket 20-445 request for review appealing a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision about unqualified people being enrolled. USAC's national verifier confirmed those subscribers as eligible. Yet USAC is acting against Dish, AT&T and other providers after the FCC Office of Inspector General found deficiencies in the verification process (see 2111220058), Dish said. It argued USAC lacks legal authority to retroactively apply new criteria to subscribers, as it has solely an administrative role and there aren't FCC orders or directions setting the criteria USAC is now applying. Even if some EBB recoupment is warranted, USAC's analysis "is incomplete and relies on faulty assumptions," Dish said. It added USAC "significantly overstates" the potential recovery amount. Portions of Dish's appeal were redacted.
EU privacy law will change to address the challenges of AI and other technologies, European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Wojciech Wiewiorowski told Communications Daily in a wide-ranging interview. He is urging governments not to wait for global privacy solutions to emerge before regulating AI but to use existing tools.
Congress should require the Biden administration to strengthen export controls against China and give it new tools to restrict a broader range of inbound and outbound investments, the House Select Committee on China said in a Dec. 12 report.
The U.S. and South Korea held talks on a range of critical and emerging technology issues in Seoul late last week, part of an inaugural forum meant to improve cooperation on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum and more, the White House said.
Congress should remove permanent normal trade relations status for China, but rather than move Chinese imports into Column 2, it should create a China-specific tariff schedule "that restores U.S. economic leverage to ensure that the [Chinese government] abides by its trade commitments and does not engage in coercive or other unfair trade practices and decreases U.S. reliance on [Chinese] imports in sectors important for national and economic security," the House Select Committee on China wrote as one of its dozens of legislative recommendations in its "Strategy to Win America's Economic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party." The report, released Dec. 12, also recommended:
National Emergency Number Association representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff on the group’s i3 standard and an ATIS standard for IP multimedia subsystems (IMS), in an attempt to offer clarity, said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-479. “There is some confusion with respect” to next-generation 911 standards, NENA said. “The IMS911 specification, ATIS 0500036, implements the NENA i3 standard in an existing IMS … system,” the group said: “It is a standard targeted towards existing IMS systems to offer i3 based NG9-1-1 services over their existing network. IMS911 and NENA i3 are complementary, and not competing, specifications and systems implementing them are expected to be fully interoperable.” NENA said all known NG-911 systems in the U.S. are using only the i3 standard at this point.
U.S. export controls will slow China’s innovation efforts, but they'll never “stop” the country from advancing technologically, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is studying ways it can place potential export controls on access to advanced open-source software, including artificial intelligence-powered models similar to ChatGPT-4, as well as certain cloud computing services, BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez said. Although Estevez said no controls are imminent, the agency is working to form a set of export control policy options to address both.
The Bureau of Industry and Security needs to overhaul its export control policies to stem the flow of U.S. national security technology that is fueling China’s military modernization, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a report marking the end of a 90-day review of the agency (see 2210030068).