Google at Aspen Security Forum 2023

This week government officials, business leaders, academics, and journalists gathered in Aspen, Colorado for the 14th annual Aspen Security Forum, America’s premier national security and foreign policy conference. Google participated in a number of panels and events.

The opportunities and challenges of Artificial Intelligence

Machine learning is a transformative technology that has the potential to advance science and medicine, create clean and abundant energy, and support national security by promoting economic security.?

And like all technologies, AI will almost certainly be used for good and for ill.?

So how do we prepare for this exciting but uncertain future??

My panel with Dr. Arati Prabhakar (Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy), Heidi Heitkamp (Director, University of Chicago Institute of Politics; Former U.S. Senator for North Dakota), and Anja Manuel (Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum) wrestled with this issue.???

We at Google recognize that none of us will be able to solve these issues alone.?

Industry, researchers, civil society, and governments must work together to promote trustworthy applications that live up to AI’s promise of societal benefit while mitigating risk. That’s why we support a policy agenda anchored on three pillars: Opportunity, responsibility, and security.

The countries most likely to lead in competitiveness and AI cyber-defense will be the ones able to deploy and innovate with AI boldly and responsibly.

AI’s implications for global security and stability

Our moderator Ryan Heath (Global Technology Correspondent for Axios) kicked off the discussion with a question to Dr. Prabhakar about how the White House is approaching the development of AI.?

She rightly pointed out that given the wide breadth of this emerging technology, we can expect it will be used in positive–and not so positive-ways.?

“We absolutely want to seize its benefits, but the way to do that is we have to start by managing its risks,” she said.?

According to Dr. Prabhakar, we should also keep in mind that “every nation in the world is trying to use AI to shape a future that reflects their own core values.”?

It’s not a foregone conclusion that the U.S. and its allies will lead here, she said. Which is why it’s so important that we all work together to ensure AI moves forward on the right track.?

Senator Heitkamp took this discussion of the risks of AI—and the risks of falling behind—one step further.?

“AI has been around a long, long time,” she said, with lots of practical benefits for all of us. Rather than thinking of it as a science-fiction Jurassic Park kind of technology, we should think of the latest advances as a “Gutenberg Bible moment.”??

Like other significant technological advances, machine learning will influence science, cultures, and economies. A broad-based, bipartisan understanding of the potential of the technology will help us find the best ways to regulate and deploy it.?

Final takeaways

This week’s discussions made clear that stakeholders are aligned on one critical point: Ultimately, getting AI right will take a layered, intentional, and ultimately international approach.?

• Companies will need to take responsibility for building AI securely from the start.?
• Ongoing conversations between different industries and regulators will help design AI frameworks tailored to fit very different AI applications.?
• And we all want international conversations that help promote democratic, not authoritarian, values.

AI is here for the long term. We can afford to take a little time to make sure we strike the right balances between important principles like openness and security or privacy and fairness. Consider this work as a down payment on a brighter, more prosperous future.

If you’d like to catch up on this week’s full panel discussion, you can watch it here:?