The New York Times Reporting of the White House’s Interest Raises Red Flags for Startups and Small Tech Companies
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Commenting on today’s reporting by The New York Times, Morgan Reed, president of the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT):
“Appropriate oversight is reasonable, and the White House struck the balance between accountability and flexibility in its National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. We should be relying on existing law, like the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (UDAP) authority, and startups and small tech businesses would welcome clarifying guidance on the applicability to AI.”
“But extending pre-market review, à la the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) process for critical lifesaving medical devices, is concerning. The FDA already reviews AI systems at the app layer marketed as bona fide medical devices. This review is an appropriate method of addressing immediate safety risks, but it is unworkable as a framework for the lowest layers of the stack like general AI foundation models. This risks adding unnecessary, duplicative, and massive new costs and delays for everyone building on base models without adding any safety benefits.”
“These risks should be addressed at the appropriate levels of the technology stack. The creation of any mandated pre-market review for foundation AI models or secondary tools needs considerable public consultation, especially with the small businesses that will be most drastically impacted.”
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About Association for Competitive Technology (ACT)
ACT is a global technology trade association representing startups and small technology businesses. We work directly with our members worldwide to advocate for a policy environment that takes into account their real-world challenges and supports innovation, access to capital, job creation, and the ability of small technology companies to grow and compete globally.