The new US rule aims to block China’s access to AI chips and models by restricting the world

The Biden administration today announced a bold and controversial new export control plan, designed to prevent advanced chips and artificial intelligence Models themselves from ending up in the hands of adversaries such as China.

The administration’s new “AI Deployment Rule” divides the world into countries that will be allowed relatively unrestricted access to America’s most advanced AI algorithms, and countries that will need special licenses to access the technology. The rule, which will be implemented by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, seeks to restrict the movement of the most powerful artificial intelligence models for the first time.

“The United States leads the world in AI now, whether in AI development or AI chip design, and it is important that we keep it that way,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said ahead of today’s announcement.

The list of trusted countries is the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden and Taiwan.

The rule stipulates that companies in other countries not subject to arms controls will be able to obtain up to 1,700 of the latest AI chips without obtaining special permission. They will be able to apply for a special license to acquire more chips, to build large-scale data centers using American technology, or to access the most powerful closed-form “weights” made by American companies. Businesses will be required to have sufficient physical and cybersecurity to obtain a license.

Supply chain activities, including chip design, manufacturing and storage, will be exempt from this rule. The rule also will not be restricted Open source AI models Like Meta’s Llama, management says.

Countries subject to the arms embargo, such as China, Iran and North Korea, are already banned from obtaining advanced chips. The new rule will for the first time restrict their access to advanced models.

“Powered semiconductor (AI) and model weights, as we all know, are a dual-use technology,” Raimondo added before the announcement. “They are used in many commercial applications, but they can also be used by our adversaries to conduct nuclear simulations, develop biological weapons, and advance their militaries.”

However, this rule is sure to spark controversy, as it could stifle international sales of AI at a critical moment for the industry. This comes just one week before Trump’s inauguration. The ruling sets out a 120-day consultation period, meaning Donald Trump’s administration is expected to listen to input, possibly modify the rule, and then implement it.

Nvidiathe The world’s leading manufacturer of artificial intelligence chipsShe called the rule “unprecedented and misleading.” Blog post. Although these rules are disguised as anti-China measures, they will do nothing to enhance US security. Rather than mitigating any threat, Biden’s new rules will only weaken America’s global competitiveness and undermine the innovation that has kept the United States ahead.

United States already Limits exports of advanced AI chips to Chinawhich is a major geopolitical competitor, but companies there have been able to build cutting algorithms using computer clusters located in other countries. Under the new rule, China will not be able to build so-called frontier AI models in other countries affected by the rule.