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Published on: December 18, 2020
The backfiring effect of weak AI safety regulation
Benjamin Laufer1, Jon Kleinberg2, Hoda Heidari3
1Department of Information Science, Cornell Tech, New York, NY 10044.
Summary
Weak AI safety regulation on specialists can backfire. Stronger, well-placed rules for AI creators and specialists benefit all, improving safety and performance.
Area of Science:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Economic Policy
- Technology Regulation
Background:
- Policy proposals aim to enhance general-purpose AI safety, but regulatory efficacy is unclear.
- Interactions between AI safety regulation, creators, and domain specialists require strategic modeling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the impact of different regulatory approaches on AI safety and performance.
- To explore how safety regulations affect the strategic interactions within the AI development chain.
Main Methods:
- Development of a strategic game model involving a regulator, AI creator, and domain specialists.
- Analysis of regulatory measures targeting different stages of AI development (safety and performance attributes).
Main Results:
- Weak safety regulations focused solely on domain specialists can be counterproductive, potentially reducing overall AI safety.
- Appropriate safety standards applied to both AI creators and domain specialists can act as a commitment device, enhancing both safety and performance beyond unregulated scenarios.
Conclusions:
- Targeted regulation of AI use cases (domain specialists) alone may not achieve desired safety outcomes.
- Comprehensive safety regulations, applied strategically to all AI development stakeholders, can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes and improved AI technology.
