AI is the New Plastics. Can We Govern it Better?

(Caroline Baxter – Just Security) The paradigm-shifting nature of AI has been compared to the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, electricity, and computers. But a better analogy may be synthetic plastics: the manmade material that, for better and for worse, forms the backbone of modern life. Today, it is impossible to maintain an entirely plastic-free life. Although regulation attempts to mitigate the damage that plastics cause, the material’s production is increasing, as is its presence in our soil and tap water. AI, dubbed by some as the “most transformative” technology of the century, is on a similar path of ubiquity, spanning across children’s classrooms and workspaces to military arsenals. And without regulation demarcating the line separating valuable and frivolous cases for AI inclusion, or a populace able to make informed and active decisions about which side of that line they want to be on, AI will likely continue to rapidly diffuse. However, before that happens, policymakers and legislators have a chance to manage it differently than we did with plastics—and avoid creating something else that harms us as much as it helps. – AI is the New Plastics. Can We Govern it Better?