U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Basset, on Tuesday emphasized during a session of the House Financial Services Committee that the Trump administration is striving to establish a balance between innovation and safety in the field of artificial intelligence while maintaining the technological superiority of the United States over China.
Emphasis on Optimal Growth
Basset stated during this session, which was dedicated to examining the state of the international financial system, "We are working to maintain an optimal growth rate. We are addressing issues related to innovation and safety." He also mentioned that this administration has been working on artificial intelligence issues for over six months.
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Competition with China and AI Models
Basset continued to address competition with China and claimed that Chinese developers are using American models to improve their systems. He stated, "Chinese models describe what they extract from U.S. models as a polite scientific term for theft."
The Treasury Secretary also believes that the expansion of American open models could ultimately reduce the appeal of Chinese models for users. He also pointed to the importance of access to advanced chips in Washington's approach to competition in the field of artificial intelligence, stating, "Artificial intelligence runs on advanced chips where the United States has a significant advantage, so ensuring that other countries do not access these chips is very important."
Basset added that the Treasury Department's work initially focused on the financial sector and then expanded through the Eagle Gold initiative, which he described as a forum for sharing information on resilience.
He also mentioned collaboration with major banks and their information managers since March, stating that these interactions have contributed to the Eagle Gold project, which has been described as a center for collecting information on resilience.
In light of warnings about the difficulty of controlling advanced artificial intelligence systems, Basset emphasized the importance of which country develops this technology, stating, "It is important whether good or bad people have access to this technology. As someone responsible for managing the relationship with China in the field of artificial intelligence, this is very important."
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