One of the final policy guidelines issued by former president Joe Biden concerning artificial intelligence and the chips that make it possible is having ripple effects around the world, according to a report. The report from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said that what was once a simple line drawn around China and a small number of countries has become something much broader.
It has become “a sweeping, interventionist framework that dictates not just who can import advanced semiconductors and how many, but where they can be deployed, under what conditions they must be secured, and even how AI capabilities can be shared,” the report states.
The report examines what the Biden administration described as an “interim final rule on artificial intelligence diffusion", saying these rules were designed to close loopholes and raise AI security standards. Yet many analysts noted that the AI diffusion rules were largely aimed at US efforts to blunt AI technological advancement in China.
Companies such as Nvidia, which has had unprecedented growth in recent years from sales of graphics processing units (GPUs) that are vital to AI infrastructure, were critical about the new interim rules, which ultimately cap computer chip sales to some countries.
“In its last days in office, the Biden administration seeks to undermine America’s leadership with a 200-plus-page regulatory morass, drafted in secret and without proper legislative review,” read a statement from Ned Finkle, vice president of government affairs at Nvidia.
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and the UK are the countries exempt from AI diffusion restrictions, falling into what has become known as the first tier of AI diffusion countries.
The CSIS report looked at countries not listed as exempt, including Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the UAE. Such nations in this “second tier” of the AI diffusion role make it more complicated, although not impossible, to obtain powerful GPUs and CPUs.
“A common rejoinder is that the AI Diffusion Rule only affects a handful of countries, since most global AI data centre capacity is already concentrated in the United States and Tier 1 nations,” the report read.
The third tier of countries, including China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela, will have the most difficulty obtaining GPUs and CPUs under the new rules, which was largely the goal of the Biden policy.
“The controls we put on semiconductors and semiconductor equipment have all been about impeding the PRC’s [People's Republic of China's] ability to build the large language models that can threaten the US and its allies from a national security perspective,” Alan Estevez, former undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said last month.
But many say countries in the second tier of AI diffusion restrictions are being unfairly hit. A source at Nvidia told The National that the rules will make it harder for various countries, many of them US allies such as the UAE, to build capacity for “non-frontier AI use cases”.
Frontier AI is a term used to describe highly capable AI models and technology that could pose severe risks to public safety. “This would capture a lot of GPUs that are included in gaming and other applications like health care and scientific research that don't have anything to do with frontier AI,” the source said.
As the CSIS report points out, however, countries that fall into the second tier do have the option of increasing the amount of GPUs they can obtain by applying for something called National Validated End User authorisation status, but only if they meet stringent security requirements.
“Broadly speaking, the new [AI diffusion] rule is likely to be a net negative for T2 nations with significant AI data centre capacity pipelines,” the report explained.
Although the new Trump administration has been quick to repeal many Biden administration policies, it has not announced plans to scrap the AI diffusion rule.
That decision might come down to US President Donald Trump's new Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was recently present during a meeting between Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and Mr Trump.
Details of that meeting were scarce, but an Nvidia source told The National that “strengthening US technology and AI leadership” were a major part of the conversation.
The CSIS report says the Trump administration will probably embrace and possibly expand the AI diffusion rule, but does not rule out the small window for making an abrupt policy shift given the political climate.
“If there is a better hand to play, now is the time to find it,” read the CSIS analysis. “And if there is anyone that thrives on breaking and remaking the playbook, it is President Trump.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
MATCH INFO
What: India v Afghanistan, first Test
When: Starts Thursday
Where: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengalaru
THE%20HOLDOVERS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlexander%20Payne%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Paul%20Giamatti%2C%20Da'Vine%20Joy%20Randolph%2C%20Dominic%20Sessa%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Co%20Chocolat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Iman%20and%20Luchie%20Suguitan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Food%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241%20million-plus%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fahad%20bin%20Juma%2C%20self-funding%2C%20family%20and%20friends%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
|
Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
MO
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreators%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Amer%2C%20Ramy%20Youssef%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Amer%2C%20Teresa%20Ruiz%2C%20Omar%20Elba%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A