WHITE HOUSE SAYS NO NEED TO RESTRICT 'OPEN-SOURCE' ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - AT LEAST FOR NOW

The White House is coming out in favor of “opensource” artificial intelligence technology, arguing in a report this week that there’s no need right now for restrictions on companies making key components of their powerful AI systems widely available.

“We recognize the importance of open systems,” said Alan Davidson, an assistant secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department, in an interview.

As part of a sweeping executive order on AI last year, President Joe Biden gave the U.S. Commerce Department until July to talk to experts and come back with recommendations on how to manage the potential benefits and risks of so-called open models.

The term “open-source” comes from a decades-old practice of building software in which the code is free or widely accessible for anyone to examine, modify and build upon.