A US Congressional commission yesterday put forward a Manhattan Project-scale initiative aimed at funding the development of so-called “strong artificial intelligence” (AGI) systems that can perform at or above human levels.
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The US-China Economic and Security Oversight Commission (USCC) in the US Congress has noted that public-private partnerships are key to success in developing strong artificial intelligence, but has not yet presented a specific investment strategy. Similarly, during World War II, the Manhattan Project was created through large-scale collaboration between the US government and the private sector that resulted in the creation of the atomic bomb.
«Throughout history, we have seen that countries that pioneered periods of rapid technological change were often able to cause changes in the global balance of power. China’s push for AGI is important that we take them extremely seriously,” USCC member Jacob Helberg told Reuters.
A significant factor holding back the training of large AI models is energy infrastructure. According to Mr. Helberg, development can be accelerated by optimizing the process of issuing permits for data centers – this will be an example of such a public-private partnership. The USCC was created by Congress in 2000 – the commission annually puts forward recommendations regarding US-China relations; Its task is to provide legislators with timely direction on issues of economic and strategic competition with China.