AI Innovation Concentration and the Governance Challenge

A field with its roots established in the 1950s, artificial intelligence (AI) is suddenly much more in the public eye and capable of doing useful things for casual users as well as experts. Its rollout over the coming decade could be a very big deal indeed. To achieve broad welfare gains and global participation in the AI economy, stakeholders — producers, suppliers, consumers, researchers, regulators and others — will need a safe and trustworthy business environment that facilitates responsible access and technology diffusion.

In this new paper, Douglas Lippoldt examines the concentration of AI innovation and considers factors in the regulatory environment that may support or hinder its responsible diffusion in line with applicable international norms. The paper aims to add to the literature on AI innovation and its diffusion by delivering analysis drawing on a unique combination of firm-level data sources and policy indicators.

With wars being fought in different parts of the world, the emergence of a multipolar world is evident. Atop that factors like changing demographics, declining population, climate change and rise of artificial intelligence are likely to challenge Canada’s efforts in boosting economic productivity, bolstering national security and data sovereignty and maintaining living standards. These conclusions are based on data from our research, which projects demographic, economic and fiscal indicators to 2040.

Deeming surprise as the only constant in global affairs, Paul Samson and Nikolina Zivkovic point out that, “the path ahead is fraught with risk. This offers Canadians opportunities for innovation, cooperation and the reimagining of international governance. But it also means we face a sea change in our expectations for our collective safety, security and prosperity.”

What happens when artificial intelligence (AI) becomes even more integral in our lives than it already is? According to Anna Artyushina, the ArriveCAN debacle, as outlined in the Canadian auditor general’s February report of multiple violations in the app’s procurement, development and deployment, offers a teachable moment.

Artyushina says the "existing laws have significant blind spots when it comes to emerging technologies and that recent cases confirm we can’t rely on courts to address all the challenges brought on by automation." Instead, “the governance of algorithms comes down to plain old democratic governance”: what’s needed are robust mechanisms of accountability and redress for these systems.

With several mid-sized regional banks succumbing to the devastating effects of unprecedented deposit runs, the US banking system became the center of global attention in March last year. “Unfortunately, one year after the biggest banking crisis since the onset of the Great Recession, we still don’t have an answer to the key question regarding bank capital: How much is enough? That needs to change, if we’re to prevent future financial crises,” highlights James A Haley in this opinion piece previously published in OMFIF.

James Haley regards the proposed higher bank capital requirements that the US regulatory authorities floated last July as the biggest issue in the current US banking system while arguing that “bank capital is not tantamount to money locked away in a vault that can’t be lent out.”

Apr. 25 – 3:00 p.m. EDT (UTC–04:00): Join us online for a discussion on ⿻數位 Plurality with E. Glen Weyl and CIGI President Paul Samson.

While digital technology threatens to tear our free and open societies apart through polarization, inequality, loneliness and fear, on a delicate, diverse and politically divided East Asian island things are different. In the decade since the occupation of Taiwan’s parliament, this island of resilience achieved inclusive, technology-fuelled growth, and entrusted the people to tackle shared challenges such as environmental protection, while capitalizing on a culture of innovation to “hack the government.”

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