Opinion | World cannot afford AI cooperation falling prey to US-China geopolitical strife

At a time when the Biden administration has secured voluntary commitments from seven top companies – Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Anthropic and Inflection – to address the risks posed by AI, the artificial intelligence industry is expected to reach US$1.8 trillion by 2030, growing at an annual pace of 37.3 per cent between 2023 and 2030.

The companies have committed to testing their AI systems’ capability and safety, sharing their results as well as information on managing AI risks before releasing them to the public. As governments across the world invest heavily in AI research and development, the ethical constraints of AI – which includes issues such as bias, privacy and data protection – are of great concern.

Cybercrime is an issue affecting businesses around the world, and academic integrity is under threat as students turning in AI-generated papers has become a worry.

Biases within AI systems pose additional ethical challenges as unconscious biases can be introduced through human involvement. Examples include biased outcomes of facial recognition AI for people of colour and the discriminatory consequences of automated systems, such as Amazon’s recruiting tool, which reflected bias against women.

Meanwhile, the geopolitical battle for AI domination is on, with the United States and China investing massively in research and development to fight for technological dominance.