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In a joint statement alongside national newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun, NTT said that the current lack of regulation surrounding Generative AI (GenAI) could be catastrophic for society
The rapid evolution of AI – particularly GenAI – over the last two years has been nothing short of remarkable. From the meteoric rise of Open AI and ChatGPT to the historic valuation of NVIDIA at $1.72 trillion earlier this year, rarely a tech news headline goes by without mentioning the disruptive technology in some form or another.
But while some believe the impact of GenAI to be somewhat overblown, others fear the technology could pose a fundamental threat to society. Intentionally or otherwise, GenAI frequently presets untruths with authority, increasingly creating an online environment in which it is difficult to tell fact from fiction. Indeed, some believe the internet is already being flooded with AI-generated content, often itself based upon other AI content.
Japanese telecoms giant NTT, it seems, falls firmly in this latter camp.
This week, the operator has released a joint statement with national newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun proposing new regulations be introduced related to GenAI, based on joint research the duo conducted in autumn last year.
Noting challenges including AI “hallucinations, bias and toxicity, retraining through input data, infringement of rights through data scraping and the difficulty of judging created products”, the proposal argues that GenAI’s influence on society is already ‘out of control’.
“If generative AI is allowed to go unchecked, trust in society as a whole may be damaged as people grow distrustful of one another and incentives are lost for guaranteeing authenticity and trustworthiness. There is a concern that, in the worst-case scenario, democracy and social order could collapse, resulting in wars,” said the statement.
In particular, the study highlighted the impact that misinformation driven by AI could have on democracy and national security, arguing that “hard laws should be introduced without hesitation” in these areas to avoid “enormous and irreversible damage”.
“If we continue to be unable to sufficiently regulate generative AI — or if we at least allow the unconditional application of such technology to elections and security — it could cause enormous and irreversible damage as the effects of the technology will not be controllable in society. This implies a need for rigid restrictions by law (hard laws that are enforceable) on the usage of generative AI in these areas,” said the statement.
On the other hand, the proposal emphasised the need for flexible regulation, noting that that technology is evolving rapidly and will need a regulatory framework that could do likewise. It highlighted the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, Digital Services Act, and Digital Markets Act as already beginning to build in AI safeguards in this regard. Other markets, however – including NTT’s home market of Japan – have made no such regulatory progress.
Alongside this regulatory overhaul, the proposal also argued for compulsory education in schools about AI usage and its associated risks, updates to copyright law, and effective labelling of AI-generated content.
Broadly speaking, NTT’s position on GenAI seems sensible. Misinformation on the internet was already rife even before the advent of GenAI and the slew of new content created by these new AI models will no doubt only exacerbate the situation. At the same time, the proposal recognises that this technology will play a role in improving productivity and enabling further innovation, hence a flexible, multifaceted approach to regulation will be required.
And, with major elections taking place in numerous countries this year – including the UK and the US – this regulation must be made a matter of priority sooner rather than later.
“The out-of-control relationship between AI and the attention economy has already damaged autonomy and dignity, which are essential values that allow individuals in our society to be free,” concluded the proposal. “If generative AI develops further and is left unchecked like it is currently, there is no denying that the distribution of malicious information could drive out good things and cause social unrest.”
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