Government and Artificial Intelligence
These days artificial intelligence (AI) is all over the business news. A June 2024 New York times article talks about how robots can bring automated precision to drug development. A July 2024 article described the red-hot AI market helping landlords arrange building repairs. A June 2024 Philadelphia Inquirer trucking executive interview stated that cameras and sensors are improving maintenance and fuel efficiency.
The place where technology seems to have the greatest potential for efficiency and improvement is the US government (followed by state and local governments).
Previewing asylum claims, reviewing tax returns, answering questions, improving service; I am no expert, but it seems there are many ways that technology could make government more efficient, respond faster, and less expensive.
Thirty-two million businesses are expected to be affected by a new law (bipartisan) called the Corporate Transparency Act. It requires companies to provide ownership information to the federal government by January 1st, 2025, to prevent money laundering, drug trafficking and corruption. Seems like there would be a better way to do this using AI that would avoid the expense and intrusive applications.
The White House came out with a document on “seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence” on April 29, 2024. Most of it deals with managing risks. Certainly, it is important; we don’t want Avatar senior citizens applying for social security.
The balance of the document deals with worker protection and “mitigating the potentially harmful impacts of AI in employment decisions”. I understand that the White House doesn’t want anyone to be laid off and replaced by technology. This approach is counterproductive. If we can make government work better and at less expense, we ought to do it. Fareed Zakaria says in his book, Age of Revolutions: “Over the course of history, technology has created more jobs and made our lives better. Refusing to use it would be foolish.” Consultants ought to be everywhere in government now, recommending improvements to make it work better, cheaper, and faster.
Government must become more efficient. Politicians speak about spending hard-working taxpayer’s money, but in recent years, taxes only covered 2/3 of government spending. About a third of what the US government spent was borrowed money. Our country is perceived as strong and stable, and investors are willing to lend us money (buy treasury securities). We live beyond our means by deficit spending. It’s a good deal, but everything has its limits. The only ways to reduce deficit spending are to cut expenses, raise taxes, or some combination of both. Technology can help with cutting expenses.
The other government body dealing with AI is a bi-partisan Senate group. In addition to the same concerns for security and job displacement as the White House, along with formulating regulations, there’s a concern about maintaining global leadership in AI. How does the Senate group plan to do that? You guessed it; provide funding for AI innovation.
This shows a basic misunderstanding of venture capital funding. If there is great promise in a product or service that will be in demand, there is plenty of money available from private investors. All the government has to do is approve a framework of regulations and stay out of the way. We can save the taxpayers’ money for another purpose.
We do need a central government for many things, including insuring AI is used in a safe manner. The only way forward is to take full advantage of technology to allow our government to serve us better, cheaper, and faster.
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