What the U.S. Can Learn From China About Regulating AI

Matt Sheehan in Foreign Policy:

Over the past two years, China has enacted some of the world’s earliest and most sophisticated regulations targeting AI. On the surface, these regulations are often anathema to what U.S. leaders hope to achieve. For instance, China’s recent generative AI regulation mandates that companies uphold “core socialist values,” whereas Schumer has called for legislation requiring that U.S. AI systems “align with our democratic values.”

Yet those headline ideological differences blind us to an uncomfortable reality: The United States can actually learn a lot from China’s approach to governing AI. Of course, Washington shouldn’t require that AI systems “adhere to the correct political direction,” as one Chinese regulation mandates. But if we can look beyond the ideological content of the rules, we can learn from the underlying structure of the regulations and the process by which China has rolled them out. If taken seriously, those structure- and process-oriented lessons could be invaluable as U.S. leaders navigate a morass of AI issues over the coming years.

More here.