US Ambassador urges for intensified India-US dialogue on AI regulation

The US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, has called for a deeper dialogue between India and the US to shape a regulatory framework for AI. During the event organised by the Observer Research Foundation, Garcetti added that it could be an example of a ‘multiplicative relationship’ between the two democracies.

The ambassador highlighted the need to ‘get in front‘ of AI in a preemptive move to avoid disastrous outcomes, stating that the results of a catastrophic event happening with AI could be sooner than we believe. The US envoy highlighted that Washington is taking the issue very seriously. The urgency of stronger AI regulations arises from the acceleration of the development and deployment of large language models powering generative AI tools. With the potential to transform every facet of human life, the risks associated with AI misuse are equally important. AI regulation is a matter of urgency due to the risk of results based on intrinsic biases in the data used to train advanced AI models.

Why does it matter?

Without appropriate regulation, AI systems can give discriminatory answers, disseminate fake news, and negatively impact society by determining who is allowed to get a loan or access a job opportunity.
President Biden last month issued a landmark executive order mandating AI developers to provide the federal government with an evaluation of their applications’ data used to train and test the AI, its performance measurements, and its vulnerability to cyberattacks. The Biden-Harris administration is making progress in crafting domestic AI regulation, including with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework and the voluntary commitments from AI companies to manage the risks posed by the technology. In Congress last week, prominent Senators Amy Klobuchar and John Thune and their colleagues introduced the bipartisan ‘AI Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act‘ to boost innovation while increasing transparency, accountability, and security for high-risk AI applications. However, more is needed in the US and globally with AI regulation. Last month, the UN Secretary-General established a High-Level Body on AI to steer global AI governance, and the European Union is in the final stages of its comprehensive AI Act with ongoing trilogue negotiations on how to deal with the most powerful AI models.

Ambassador Garcetti’s call for deeper conversations on the issue between India and the US emphasises the importance of international cooperation in developing a collaborative regulatory framework for AI, given its potential to significantly impact various aspects of human life.