Security News > 2024 > March > How Public AI Can Strengthen Democracy

To benefit society as a whole we also need strong public AI as a counterbalance to corporate AI, as well as stronger democratic institutions to govern all of AI. One model for doing this is an AI Public Option, meaning AI systems such as foundational large-language models designed to further the public interest.

They would provide a mechanism for public input and oversight on the critical ethical questions facing AI development, such as whether and how to incorporate copyrighted works in model training, how to distribute access to private users when demand could outstrip cloud computing capacity, and how to license access for sensitive applications ranging from policing to medical use.

A variation of such an AI Public Option, administered by a transparent and accountable public agency, would offer greater guarantees about the availability, equitability, and sustainability of AI technology for all of society than would exclusively private AI development.

Much like the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administers public health insurance programs, so too could a federal agency dedicated to AI-a Centers for AI Services-provision and operate Public AI models.

Instead of ethically and legally questionable scraping of content from the web, or of users' private data that they never knowingly consented for use by AI, public AI models can use public domain works, content licensed by the government, as well as data that citizens consent to be used for public model training.

Public AI models could be reinforced by labor compliance with U.S. employment laws and public sector employment best practices.

News URL

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/03/how-public-ai-can-strengthen-democracy.html