Opinion | AI Regulation Needs to Look Beyond America

That Peggy Noonan could pen her column on artificial intelligence’s dangers without once using the word “China” is surreal (“Trump Is in Denial About AI’s Danger,” Declarations, Sept. 26).

One can reasonably hold that the risks of a largely unregulated AI arms race are significant and worthy of governmental intervention. Similarly, one can also believe President Trump’s dismissal of those warning of AI’s dangers as conspiracists and fear mongers to be too glib by half.

But to elide the fundamental point that AI development continues to advance within a global contest among nations is naive at best, and deceptive at worst. Ms. Noonan would have done better to seize upon an illustration of the limitations of domestic regulation: imposing stringent climate regulations within the U.S. and Western Europe, while other major emitters such as China face different obligations, raises questions about whether unilateral regulation can meaningfully address a global problem.

If AI is indeed as risky as some fear, then only an ironclad, comprehensive regulatory regime covering all nations’ AI development will do.

Richard J. Shinder

Greenwich, Conn.