The Biden Administration, responding to requests from various think tanks, has implemented a ban on the utilization of resources from U.S. Cloud Companies by China for AI training purposes. This mirrors a similar move made by China under the leadership of Xi Jinping since October 2023.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo issued a formal statement, underscoring that U.S.-developed chips will no longer cater to Chinese requests for training their machine learning tools. This decision is rooted in concerns that such collaborations could expose potential vulnerabilities for exploitation by foreign nations and their malicious actors.
To achieve these objectives, the Joe Biden-led government proposed a “Know Your Customer” (KYC) initiative. This requires cloud users to disclose more information about their usage statistics and applications intending to utilize the resources. As part of this scrutiny, all computing power requests linked to China will undergo a review, and suspicious ones will be denied.
Interestingly, the Republican-led government has also imposed a ban on processing chip shipments to countries like Russia, China, and North Korea, citing national security concerns. This move could have far-reaching implications for North America’s diplomatic relations with its international counterparts in the long run.
In response to these restrictions, Russia, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, has officially declared its intention to develop technology without relying on overseas assistance or technological intervention. This includes using Artificial Intelligence in special military operations, such as those undertaken in Ukraine.
Shifting gears, the start of 2024 brings unsettling news for the job industry, as companies initiate layoffs of in-house workers in the AI tech and talent sector. According to a CNBC report, over 20,000 employees were laid off in the first two weeks of January 2024, particularly in the tech industry. Industry analysts predict that this trend of mass layoffs will intensify in May and October of this year, as major firms seek to innovate in the AI sector. For example, Sundar Pichai-led Google has laid off numerous employees in its Assistant segment, especially in the FitBit section. The company aims to enhance efficiency in certain business areas by replacing manual labor with technology.
