White House official calls for choosing AI future aligned with US technology
Michael Kratsios, director for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, delivers a keynote speech during the Global Digital and AI Forum, held as part of the APEC Digital and AI Ministerial Meeting, in Incheon, west of Seoul, Aug. 5. Yonhap
A White House official on Tuesday called for major economies to work with the United States in developing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, rather than following Europe's "overregulated" approach that could leave them behind in the global tech race.
Michael Kratsios, director for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, made the remarks during a forum held as part of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meeting, saying countries have a "choice" in which path they will take.
"I want to recognize that each of the APEC economies has a choice before it: You can follow the European model of fear and overregulation, and be inevitably left behind, succumbing to stasis ... Or you can take our offered handshake and make a deal," Kratsios said in a keynote speech released by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
He was speaking during a digital forum, held on the sidelines of the APEC Digital and AI Ministerial Meeting in Incheon, west of Seoul.
"The next trailblazing breakthroughs will be made with and on American technology, and to fully harness them, you will want America's AI infrastructure already in place," he said.
Noting how AI is reshaping the future of global commerce, Kratsios highlighted that the U.S. is committed to finding a way to enable American private companies to meet partnering countries' needs for mutual benefit.
"We understand that your governments and national champion businesses seek to carefully steward your people's sensitive data, and so cannot always employ a closed proprietary model," he said.
"The best open-source and open-weight models may become industry standard setters. We are therefore taking concrete steps to enable and empower their developers," Kratsios said.
Kratsios said the technological progress should be "found in political freedom and independence," rather than "global governance and technocratic control."
On the margins of the meeting, Kratsios met with Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, and discussed the direction of AI-related policies and related collaboration efforts, the science ministry said.