Washington fears artificial intelligence in the hands of Beijing… and bans chips

Amidst the ongoing tension between the United States and China, economic competition constitutes a strong pressure card in the hands of both parties.

In the context of this pressure, it seems that Washington decided to impose more restrictions on the export of oil artificial intelligence chips To Beijing, especially since the US administration is increasingly concerned that it could be used for espionage or otherwise.

Informed sources revealed that the US Department of Commerce may move, next month, to stop shipments of electronic chips manufactured by the American company “NVIDIA” and others to customers in China and other countries as well without obtaining a license, according to what was reported. The Wall Street Journal

It also indicated that this measure will be part of the final, comprehensive rules for expanding export control measures that were announced last October.

prior authorization

Previously, NVIDIA responded to these constraints, starting to make versions of its AI chips for the Chinese market called the A800 that fell below performance thresholds set by the Commerce Department.

And that chip replaced the A100 chip, which is usually widely used in the field of artificial intelligence.

However, the new US restrictions would ban the sale of even A800 chips without a license, according to people familiar with the matter.

In addition, the US administration is also considering restricting the leasing of cloud services to Chinese artificial intelligence companies, which have used such arrangements to circumvent the ban on exporting advanced chips, according to the informed sources.

Eye on artificial intelligence

The aim of this strictness is to impede China’s ability to build advanced capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence after the restrictions imposed last year that prohibited Nvidia from exporting the most advanced artificial intelligence chips.

Those discussions, or hardline trend, follow the boom of so-called AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has become a viral phenomenon since last year.

Increasingly, officials and policymakers in the United States view artificial intelligence with suspicion and suspicion of its impact on national security.

AI-infused weapons could give Washington’s adversaries an advantage on the battlefield.

AI tools can also be used to create chemical weapons or generate malicious computer code.

It is noteworthy that for years, Washington has been threatening Beijing with drying up the sources of its acquisition of electronic chips that it dominates with its allies, and which are involved in many important technological and industrial sectors!