US Treasury Secretary Bessent says AI innovation and safety must be balanced
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee that the Donald Trump administration seeks to combine innovation in artificial intelligence with technology safety. According to him, Washington also wants to maintain a technological advantage over China.
As Anadolu Agency reports, Bessent said the administration has been working on AI issues for more than six months. He advocated for the development of more open models and open-source models in the United States, saying that the regulatory influence of major labs could restrain innovation.
Competition with China
Bessent linked the development of artificial intelligence to technological rivalry with China. He accused Chinese developers of using American models to improve their own systems. In his view, the spread of open models developed in the United States could eventually make Chinese alternatives less attractive to users.
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Separately, the Treasury secretary emphasized the importance of advanced AI chips. According to him, the United States has a significant advantage in such technologies, and preventing other countries from gaining access to advanced chips is an important part of the American approach to competition in AI.
Work with the financial sector
Bessent also said that the US Treasury Department initially focused its work on the financial sector. In March, the department began working with major banks and their chief information officers, and later expanded engagement to financial institutions of different sizes.
According to Bessent, the results of this work were used within the Gold Eagle project, which he described as a mechanism for sharing information on system resilience. He also said the administration is coordinating AI and cybersecurity issues among federal agencies. Answering a question about the risk of losing control over powerful AI systems, Bessent stressed that it matters which country develops such technologies.
