Last week, news reports indicated the Commerce Department might restrict exports of artificial intelligence-focused semiconductor chips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries. This followed a leak earlier this year that national security experts in the administration are quietly conducting a broader review of licenses proposed by Microsoft for consummation of its deal with G42, the UAE data center behemoth.
These potential restrictions reflect a deep ambivalence within the Biden administration on export of AI technology and the $1.5 billion G42 deal specifically. How the administration resolves this dispute will have an impact U.S. counter-China strategy, the U.S. posture in the Middle East, and American AI competitiveness. We think a forward-leaning approach toward foreign partnerships would best advance US AI dominance.
The AI foreign policy fight among China hawks boils down to the following: one faction in the administration, led by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, believes the U.S. must give foreign partners access to our AI technology to deny Chinese dominance in this space. This includes everything from high-tech routers and network switches to railways ferrying critical minerals, such as copper, from African........