외교안보연구소 발간자료

The Biden Administration’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative: Assessment and Implications

The Biden Administration’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative: Assessment and Implications

The Biden Administration’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative: Assessment and Implications

미국

Ⅰ. Introduction
Ⅱ. The Objectives of the Biden Administration’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative (NAII)
Ⅲ. Characteristics of the Biden Administration’s National AI Policy
Ⅳ. Implications


Ⅰ. Introduction

The U.S. under President Biden is mobilizing its national capabilities and resources in the full scope to accelerate progress with artificial intelligence (AI) because AI will be the most critical variable that will determine the outcome of the U.S.-China technological competition. Moreover\ AI has a far-reaching impact on the military\ economy\ and industry of countries around the world\ as well as their political systems\ values\ and norms.
 
The U.S.\ which appears to be anxious about China’s rapid pace of AI development\ is recalibrating AI policies and initiatives in consideration of its national security interests. The Biden administration is fleshing out comprehensive policies by launching various institutions and committees in each government agency to implement the U.S. national AI strategy and enacting laws to enhance the country’s AI capabilities.
 
The Biden administration’s national initiative to enhance AI capabilities is shifting from a ‘technical dimension’ to a ‘strategic one.’ This is because Washington’s strategic thinkers view that the technological advancements China and Russia have achieved do not simply pose threats to America’s technology leadership\ but could erode its leadership on political\ social\ and psychological fronts for years to come. For instance\ the U.S. regards that cyberattacks and disinformation campaign masterminded by China and Russia using AI and the adoption and use of authoritarian AI technology threaten American democracy\ society\ and the democratic bloc politically and militarily. 
 
The Biden administration’s national AI policy primarily aims to strengthen American leadership in AI while bolstering democratic values and political systems around the world. 

 
Ⅱ. The Objectives of the Biden Administration’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative (NAII)


1. Building a Global Technological Order Beneficial to U.S. Interests

The Biden administration’s national AI policy is fleshed out as the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative (NAII)\ and its ultimate goal is to build a global technological order beneficial to vital U.S interests. The Biden administration underscores that it is imperative that the AI capabilities be integral to U.S. efforts to remain the world leader and advance into overseas AI markets\ urging U.S. allies and partners to formulate and implement policies in sync with the U.S. national AI initiative. 


2. Pursuing the Democratic Use of AI

The Biden administration values democratic models and public trust in the development and use of AI\ and recognizes advancing national security interests and safeguarding democracy as equally important objectives. Therefore\ it seeks to encourage international allies to join U.S.-led efforts to help related norms take root and gain currency globally by strengthening democratic norms and values and safeguarding the integrity of international technical standards in developing and using AI. 

 
3. The Emerging Technology Coalition and Solidarity for Democracy

The Biden administration also aims to forge and lead the emerging technology coalition with U.S. allies and partners to win supremacy over China in the field of cutting edge technologies including AI and defend the democratic bloc. The objectives of the Biden administration’s AI application to military tactics and the digital transformation of armed forces are oriented around the goals of setting shared standards with international allies for establishing AI systems\ the interoperability of related digital resources\ and global AI cloud systems. 
 
In addition\ the Biden administration seeks to check China through various policy measures such as intellectual property rights and export control in the field of AI\ urging its allies and partners to actively participate in these initiatives and policies. 
 
 
Ⅲ. Characteristics of the Biden Administration’s National AI Policy


1. Emphasis on a Hybrid Approach: Bringing Together Experts from Academia\ Industry\ and Government

Currently\ AI research and development in the U.S. is predominantly led by the private sector and academia. Such bottom-up innovation still matters\ but the Biden administration believes that the decentralized approach in AI development is not sufficient enough to meet challenges amid the intensifying U.S.-China competition. In other words\ the Biden administration underscores a ‘hybrid approach’ in which the White House’s leadership and the public and private sectors forge close cooperation. The Biden administration’s goal is to maximize the synergy between the public and private sectors by fully unleashing government support and resources for bottom-up innovation in the private sector in AI research and development.
 

2. Promoting the Use of Trustworthy AI that Respects Democratic Values 

The Biden administration values public trust in the use of various artificial intelligence technologies in government’s information-gathering activities\ homeland security missions\ and law enforcement. It wants the public to view the government’s AI use as legitimate\ reasonable\ and effective because public support and trust are vital to sustaining the government’s efforts at advancing AI technology. For this reason\ the Biden administration seeks to establish a mechanism involving supervision and auditing for a more transparent development and use of AI technology.


3. Protecting U.S. Citizens and Domestic Industries 

The Biden administration committed to a strategy to stay at least two generations ahead of China in state-of-the-art microelectronics is mapping out various measures to ensure domestic production of the semiconductors needed to power several cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence\ 5G\ and the Internet of things(IoT). The administration is seeking to protect the U.S. technology industry with the application of export controls and investment screening on AI-related technologies with dual-use nature\ and coordinating policies with allies.

There has been an increase in reported cases of external forces stealing the personal data of U.S. citizens to create a fake persona with certain preferences\ behaviors\ and beliefs\ or spread disinformation to stir up unrest in the American society and threaten its people. To address these problems\ the administration is working to legislate and regulate data protection and privacy and ensure that data privacy and security are priority considerations as part of larger efforts to strengthen foreign investment screening and supply chain. 


4. Advancing the U.S. Government’s Digital Expertise and Expanding Digital Workforce 

The Biden administration aims to build AI-enabled digital military infrastructure and train military personnel with a high level of digital expertise by 2025. There are voices in the U.S. calling for the establishment of a United States Digital Service Academy to expand the digital workforce in U.S. intelligence agencies and the United States Department of Defense as well as in the field of intelligence and communications technology. To help meet the government’s needs for digital expertise\ the Biden administration launched the U.S. Digital Corps to create a cohort of diverse young technology leaders who will pursue careers in public service. The Intelligence Community is seeking to create an environment that enables human-AI teaming and interaction in collecting and analyzing data\ and an innovative approach using AI and associated technologies.


Ⅳ. Implications

With the global Artificial Intelligence race shaping up to be a competition for dominance in both technology and values\ the values and norms upheld by Korea in developing and using AI technologies should be mirrored in Korea’s foreign policy and be shared with the international community through official platforms. This will allow the Korean government to add more justification to its science and technology diplomacy efforts and take more practical actions to achieve desired outcomes. This is an important step because as a democratic country\ Korea can communicate the message that its participation in the U.S.’ value-oriented and normative diplomacy in the field of AI and emerging technologies is guided by its national values and interests\ not a forced decision. A normative approach will likely put Korea in an advantageous position in promoting shared norms and agreements on the use of AI and other emerging technologies\ and allow the Korean government to make related policy decisions with greater autonomy. 
 
In this context\ it is important for Korea to present some relatively new AI-related agendas that can bring fresh perspectives\ namely ‘algorithm peace’ or ‘digital peacekeeping.’ Since countries around the world have already reached a broad consensus on “Trustworthy AI” and other much-debated issues\ it would be necessary to put forward new agenda items to bring together innovative ideas that can be translated into concrete research and commercial projects.  
 
The United States’ artificial intelligence policy aims to build partnerships with U.S. allies and partners to further capabilities in AI technologies\ so the U.S. and its key ally Korea could expect some significant synergies between the AI policies of the two countries. Korea\ for its part\ should endeavor to formulate an AI policy with clearly defined objectives and detail the methods necessary to accomplish them. The government needs to look into possible areas of cooperation with partners and allies\ think about what leverage it could use to have better negotiating power\ and map out specific ways for cooperation. 
 
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology with potentially significant implications for national security. Amid the ever-intensifying rivalry between the U.S. and China\ major tech powerhouses are racing to develop new kinds of AI-driven weapons systems with the potential to change the landscape of future warfare. Against this backdrop\ AI is increasingly being perceived as more of a threat to security than an opportunity\ and this perception is fueling the latest global arms race and stoking fears in middle power and technologically marginalized countries. Despite such discouraging developments\ the Korean government should create a platform to discuss ways to harness the power of AI to promote global peace and prosperity\ while trying every means possible to drive the growth of AI technology in Korea. In addition\ Korea should work together with like-minded countries to launch research projects and various initiatives to shape a positive narrative about the use of artificial intelligence and achieve technological breakthroughs.


* Attached the File

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AI

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