Lawmakers in the United States have put forth a bipartisan bill during the Biden administration to control the export of the country's top artificial intelligence (AI) models. On May 8, House Republicans Michael McCaul and John Molenaar, along with Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi and Susan Wild, revealed the proposal to address future legal complications surrounding AI export regulations.

This bill authorizes the Department of Commerce to prevent American individuals from collaborating with foreign entities to develop AI systems that could potentially threaten US national security. Currently, existing regulations make it difficult for the US Commerce Department to monitor open-source AI models. If this new bill is accepted, it will streamline the process of regulating the export of open-source AI.

Recent reports suggest that the US is gearing up to safeguard its developed AI technology from China and Russia by imposing export controls on its most advanced proprietary AI models. China has been known to utilize US-based open-source models, like Meta's Llama, to advance its own AI capabilities.

Developments in the AI Sector

In another development, Microsoft entered into a partnership with G42, an AI company in Dubai, UAE, agreeing to a $1.5 billion deal to support local AI innovation. This collaboration will allow the UAE access to Microsoft's latest AI technology developed in the US.

While Microsoft has engaged in various agreements with foreign governments over AI models and cloud services, the main concern for the US is preventing the Chinese government from acquiring high-level AI technology. China's prominent AI company, 01.AI, founded by former Google executive Lee Kai-fu, unveiled its AI model Yi-34B, developed using Meta's Llama system.

The US government has taken a series of measures to impose restrictions on China and limit its access to American-made AI technology. In January, Chinese AI firm Baidu came under scrutiny for allegedly providing technology to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for military purposes.