Tech sector eager for innovation payoffs in review of AI regulatory barriers

A public engagement process on AI regulation, launched last week by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, creates an opening for the tech sector to scour existing federal rules for barriers to artificial intelligence development and uses, with industry sources already citing potential payoffs in areas including health care, manufacturing and transportation.

“This inquiry provides a good opportunity to do a little regulatory house cleaning by revaluating analog era rules that might be holding back important AI era innovations today,” said Adam Thierer, senior technology & innovation fellow at the R Street Institute…

R Street’s Thierer also weighed in on beneficial uses — including in health care — that could be lost amid current regulations. “Prime targets for consideration might be FAA and NHTSA rules that constrain autonomous drone and automotive innovations. Older FDA policies for medical device approval could also be evaluated to ensure they’re not blocking AI-enabled medical advances,” Thierer said.

“The bottom line,” Thierer argued, “is that it’s time for government to come to grips with the costs of ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ regulations that outlive their usefulness or constrain important new innovations. This proceeding can get that important process started.”