2024 Promises Developments in AI, Net Neutrality, Data Security and the Universal Service Fund

echnology always advances more quickly than the rules and processes designed to regulate it -- and with newer technologies making massive leaps, 2024 promises to keep all of us busy.The potential and realized legal issues associated with AI development and deployment cut across almost every sector of the enterprise. Issues that have been around since the beginning continue to exist, most notably bias (both intentional and un-), ethical use of AI, and the enterprise reliance on AI’s capabilities to (potentially) offload data-driven analysis (including very, very sophisticated number crunching) from humans towards machines. However, two factors remain constant: First, AI-driven products and services have no inherent common sense; and second, iData in AI systems is, by definition, strictly historical and based solely on what transpired in the past. While data can be updated frequently, but the resultant AI-deiven output is still based on past results. As such, while processes that seem at first to be ripe for AI implementation, aren’t necessarily a perfect—let alone accurate—fit.

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The EU Takes the Lead in AI Regulation – But the New Rules Will Have Global Implications

The European Union Artificial Intelligence Act is intended to create a balance between regulation and innovation – and its implementation will be felt by partners all over the world.
Early in December, policymakers in the European Union made some important and decisive steps forward in taking the lead in global AI regulation. This action, though not yet ready for codification, will have a significant impact on the development and evolution of AI regulation worldwide. Interestingly, according to a recent article in the MIT Technology Review, one of the key drivers in the adoption and deployment of GDPR was the perceived control and/or ownership of data belonging to citizens of the EU by American and Chinese tech entities.

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A New Executive Order on AI Guidelines Is the Next Major Step in a National Conversation

The Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” identifies many of the concerns that widespread AI deployment will raise – and it moves to push AI toward increased transparency during development and deployment.
It’s hard to go anywhere and not hear people talking about their fears about what widespread deployment of artificial intelligence may mean, not just to the economy, but to our lives. Are we about to be taken over by machines that are smarter than we are? Probably not, but in an effort to rein in AI gone wild, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order on October 30, 2023 that attempts to manage — if not directly regulate — the technology to a whole new level . The primary goal of the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence” is to continue to improve AI safety and security - -not to solve every problem or address every issue associated with AI in the wild. The October 2023 order represents a step forward from the White House’s last action in August 2023, when 15 major AI providers, including tech heavyweights Google, Microsoft, and Open AI, agreed to voluntarily (a word that you will see again in this piece) work, over the course of a two-year competition, make AI more secure.

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Net Neutrality Is Coming (Soon)

The FCC’s plan to move forward with re-establishing policies that regulate broadband access see a revival of the idea that the Internet is a utility.
In an anticipated move, the FCC, now with its full complement of three Democratic commissioners, voted at the October monthly Open Meeting to move forward with a proceeding to reestablish open internet protections for millions of American consumers and businesses. In other words – the FCC is reviving net neutrality.

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Net Neutrality May Be Returning to the U.S.

It’s simply tough to argue these days that the Internet is anything other than a utility, and needs to be regulated as such. Perhaps this hasn’t affected you yet, but my email has been coming in in clumps—three emails at once, a pause, then another six emails at once. While I can only read one message at a time, the reason for my data downloading in dribs and drabs is likely because my provider, like many of yours, may be throttling data downloads. Because it can – under the current regulatory regime governing Internet access and support, there's nothing preventing an Internet service provider from holding back data.

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