Bloomberg reported that the US Department of Defense invited artificial intelligence companies to talk more about their technologies.
According to the agency, the Pentagon fears that artificial intelligence is out of control, and is being compared there to “technologies coming from other planets.”
Craig Martell , director of the Digital and Artificial Intelligence Department at the Pentagon, called on American companies to provide the information they have on how to design artificial intelligence programs so that “the department feels comfortable and safe.”
Martel said : “We simply only get the final result of building the model and that is not enough. They tell us: This is the model. We are not going to tell you how we did it and we are not telling you whether it is good or bad. We are not saying whether this is biased or not.” .
Martell believes that these models are considered, for the US Department of Defense, to be "technologies coming from cosmic space."
“We want to understand the uses, benefits and risks of these models and how to combat them,” he said.
The US government is hours away from closing federal institutions, and no agreement is in sight
Washington : On Saturday, the United States was hours away from closing federal institutions , with extremist Republicans causing chaos in their party’s ranks, and President Joe Biden’s administration issuing serious warnings of imminent disturbances at the border and in travel.
The closure, which will affect federal institutions after midnight on Saturday (04:00 GMT Sunday), will be the first since 2019, and it appears that the chances of avoiding it are diminishing as lawmakers reach a dead end in terms of agreeing on a short-term spending bill.
A state of stagnation prevails over the two chambers of Congress (Representatives and Senate), as a small group of hard-line Republican representatives reject any temporary measure that would spare the country from closing federal institutions.
On Friday, hard-line Republican representatives dropped a plan proposed by their leader, Kevin McCarthy, to keep spending in effect through a bill to temporarily finance the government, against which 232 members voted against, compared to 198 in favor.
The measure stipulated significant spending cuts, and it was unlikely to be approved in the Senate, where the Democrats have a majority.
Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said Friday that hardline Republican lawmakers must find a solution to the impasse. She added to reporters, “There is still an opportunity” to avoid closing federal institutions.
For her part, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Talks are not taking place between the president and McCarthy,” referring to the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives.
She continued, “Talks must take place between House Speaker McCarthy and his caucus.” There lies the solution, it is the chaos we are witnessing and that is what he should focus on.”
But McCarthy previously held the Democrats responsible for what turned out to be the case, saying that they were obstructing the solution.
– Questions about Ukraine –
The closure would jeopardize the financial resources allocated to workers at national parks, museums and other federally funded sites.
National parks will be closed, but according to the Ministry of the Interior, only the sections that are actually accessible to the public will remain open, but with reduced services.
Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council at the White House, said that the closure puts the largest economy in the world at “unnecessary” risk.
According to Brainard, the risks include flight delays, as air traffic controllers will be required to work without salaries, and families may be deprived of some benefits.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the closure could delay infrastructure modernization work.
The longest period of budget paralysis in the United States lasted 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019.
However, services considered “essential” will continue. The only solution to avoid a shutdown is to reach a last-minute agreement between Democrats and Republicans.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report issued on Friday that “in the near term, the government closure will only reduce the gross domestic product by 0.2 percentage points for each week it continues.”
“However, cutting off vital US trade functions would also undermine the United States’ overall credibility as a trading partner, impede ongoing negotiations and hamper export control enforcement capabilities,” the report added.
This crisis casts a shadow over Biden's policy of arming and financing Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. Hard-line Republicans who are blocking the budget are demanding that aid to Ukraine be halted.
While a majority of Republicans in Congress continue to stand behind US support for Ukraine, the shutdown will at least raise questions about the political feasibility of renewing the flow of billions of dollars in aid.
Very intriguing
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