Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Government AI

White House Could Force Cloud Companies To Disclose AI Customers (semafor.com) 11

The White House is considering requiring cloud computing firms to report some information about their customers to the U.S. government, Semafor reported Friday, citing people familiar with an upcoming executive order on AI. From the report: The provision would direct the Commerce Department to write rules forcing cloud companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to disclose when a customer purchases computing resources beyond a certain threshold. The order hasn't been finalized and specifics of it could still change. Similar "know-your-customer" policies already exist in the banking sector to prevent money laundering and other illegal activities, such as the law mandating firms to report cash transactions exceeding $10,000.

In this case, the rules are intended to create a system that would allow the U.S. government to identify potential AI threats ahead of time, particularly those coming from entities in foreign countries. If a company in the Middle East began building a powerful large language model using Amazon Web Services, for example, the reporting requirement would theoretically give American authorities an early warning about it. The policy proposal represents a potential step toward treating computing power -- or the technical capacity AI systems need to perform tasks -- like a national resource. Mining Bitcoin, developing video games, and running AI models like ChatGPT all require large amounts of compute.

White House Could Force Cloud Companies To Disclose AI Customers

Comments Filter:
  • They want to be sure we can't buy hardware powerful enough to compete with them. Or even have any of the capabilities. I wonder why? Money? Control?

    Yes.

  • by r0nc0 ( 566295 ) on Friday September 22, 2023 @05:13PM (#63870233)
    Jesus Christ what is wrong with these people? Nobody is going to disclose what they're working on AI or not. It just means everyone will build their own private datacenters.
  • by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Friday September 22, 2023 @05:23PM (#63870247)

    If we choose to do business with a country, they should be able to rent compute resources for whatever they want in this country. Some breakthroughs that can help all mankind could result... or maybe they're just making porn. whatever. All this war mongering hysteria about China is hypocritical nonsense.

    • If China or some other country really is such a threat to us, they should cut off all business with them.... of course something so stupid might tank our economy for a while. Instead we might stop being war mongers, it's expensive and kills people.

      China has 400 nuclear warheads, not even enough to take out a third of one of the legs of the USA strategic triad. They have enough to commit "suicide by USA" but that's it.

  • Nunya bidness (Score:4, Informative)

    by FuzzMaster ( 596994 ) on Friday September 22, 2023 @05:24PM (#63870249)
    Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
    • My friend, that went away with the "living and breathing document". If you have nothing to hide..... /S

  • by lsllll ( 830002 ) on Friday September 22, 2023 @07:08PM (#63870429)
    So, if I'm developing some new technology that I'm trying to keep hush before unveiling it so that I can get a jump on my competitors, the U.S. government will know about it anyway? And if they know, then who else would know? This would just make foreign entities and possibly even U.S. entities to forgo U.S. cloud infrastructure and create their own.
    • by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

      I see no reason to believe Amazon isn't watching for the same reason, and they're certainly not above poaching ideas and claiming to have invented them. Add to that the fact that the data center is going to be in _some_ government's jurisdiction, and there will always be someone wanting to know "what's he building in there?"

The less time planning, the more time programming.

Working...