THE DECODER

The U.S. government is considering new export restrictions on advanced AI models to limit access by China and Russia. According to Japan Times sources, the Commerce Department is considering restrictions on proprietary AI models whose software and training data are kept under wraps. The goal is to prevent U.S. adversaries from using the models for cyberattacks or to develop biological weapons. One criterion could be the computing power required for training. Until now, U.S. companies such as OpenAI have been able to sell their models without restriction. The planned controls complement previous measures such as export bans on AI chips. They would affect back-end software, but not end-user applications like ChatGPT. However, experts question the feasibility of these measures given the rapid pace of AI development. It is estimated that China is only two years behind the US in AI. The Chinese embassy criticized the plans as a "typical act of economic coercion and unilateral bullying, which China firmly opposes."