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Jensen Huang, President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation, speaks during Computex in Taipei on May 30, 2017.
Sam Yeh | AFP | Getty Images
nvidia Robust semiconductors have gained particular importance as their ability to fuel artificial intelligence becomes increasingly required.
But their unique capabilities are also what made China hawks in the United States fear what it might mean for them to fall into the wrong hands, as they could be used to accelerate the spread of undemocratic ideas or the development of independent weapons.
Eileen Donahue, former US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council and now executive director of the Stanford University Global Digital Policy Incubator, he told NBC In a recent interview.
With US AI executives warning the government that China is not far behind in its development of transformative technology, US policymakers believe there is a very urgent need in taking steps to stay ahead.
This is why the Ministry of Commerce is considering new restrictions on the export of these chips to China, Wall Street Journalreported on Tuesday. Nvidia had already created a version of the A100, its popular AI chip, that it could sell in the Chinese market. The A800 is designed to stay within the performance standards previously set by the Department of Commerce.
But the new restrictions the Biden administration is said to be considering would restrict even those sales without a license.
Such a move would continue the ongoing standoff between the US and Chinese governments over technology sales between the two countries. The Chinese government in May banned “critical information infrastructure” from purchasing products from the US memory chip maker micron, saying that the company poses a “significant security risk”. The US Commerce Department said at the time that it “strongly opposes the restrictions that have no basis in fact.”
The restrictions imposed by the United States on the sale of chips with artificial intelligence capabilities to China will make it difficult for China to keep up with the pace of development of the sector by American companies such as Google And MicrosoftSupports OpenAI. While Chinese companies may have some extra advanced chips saved or resort to slower semiconductors, more restrictions on high-speed chips may limit their agility in the AI race.
US executives have warned the US government that artificial intelligence produced without the proper safeguards could be used in it Outrageous ways. AI models can be designed in ways that perpetuate discrimination in contexts including law enforcement actions and approvals for housing, loans, and more, for example. But it can also be used to produce or even develop persuasive advertising on a large scale independent weapons.
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the Journal report and Nvidia declined to comment.
– CNBC’s Kristina Bartsenfilos contributed to this report.
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