WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government funding in artificial intelligence has fallen short and the country needs to invest in research, train an AI-ready workforce and apply the technology to national security missions, a government-commissioned panel led by Google’s former CEO said in an interim report on Monday.
The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), created by Congress last year, raised concerns about the progress China has made in this area. It also said the U.S. government still faces enormous work before it can transition AI from “a promising technological novelty into a mature technology integrated into core national security missions.”
The commission thinks an allied effort on AI in the realm of national security is important, Robert Work, vice chairman of the NSCAI and a former deputy secretary of defense, told reporters. The NSCAI has spoken with Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union, Work said.
China is investing more than the United States in AI, said the report, which referred to the Asian nation more than 50 times.
“China takes advantage of the openness of U.S. society in numerous ways - some legal, some not - to transfer AI know-how,” the report said, at a time of heightened tensions between the countries.
A spokeswoman for China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment.
“China is ahead in two areas. One is in the face recognition surveillance area. And another one is in financial technology. This does not mean that they’re ahead (in) AI overall,” Eric Schmidt, the panel’s chairman and one of several U.S. tech industry executives on the commission, told reporters.
