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Delve into insightful blog posts from CSET experts exploring the nexus of technology and policy. Navigate through in-depth analyses, expert op-eds, and thought-provoking discussions on inclusion and diversity within the realm of technology.

The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act has officially come into force today after more than five years of legislative processes and negotiations. While marking a significant milestone, it also initiates a prolonged phase of implementation, refinement, and enforcement. This blog post outlines key aspects of the regulation, such as rules for general-purpose AI and governance structures, and provides insights into its timeline and future expectations.

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Revisiting AI Red-Teaming

Jessica Ji and Colin Shea-Blymyer
| September 26, 2024

This year, CSET researchers returned to the DEF CON cybersecurity conference to explore how understandings of AI red-teaming practices have evolved among cybersecurity practitioners and AI experts. This blog post, a companion to "How I Won DEF CON’s Generative AI Red-Teaming Challenge", summarizes our takeaways and concludes with a list of outstanding research questions regarding AI red-teaming, some of which CSET hopes to address in future work.

How I Won DEF CON’s Generative AI Red-Teaming Challenge

Colin Shea-Blymyer
| September 26, 2024

In August 2024, CSET Research Fellow Colin Shea-Blymyer attended DEF CON, the world’s largest hacking convention to break powerful artificial intelligence systems. He participated in the AI red-teaming challenge, and won. This blog post details his experiences with the challenge, what it took to win the grand prize, and what he learned about the state of AI testing.

Artificial intelligence is becoming more integrated into the sciences. One of the scientific fields experiencing this is computational biology, which uses computer modeling to understand biological mechanisms and systems. This blog post provides an understanding of important research trends in these subject areas, and how advancements in AI can improve the speed and efficiency of computational biology to improve human health and well-being.

This blog post recounts the development of a Python-based data collection pipeline project completed in the summer of 2024 by CSET inaugural intern Jordan Monts. During his project research and work, he used the Requests and BeautifulSoup libraries to create a two-part system to gather and process web data, support ongoing research initiatives, and strengthen his skills in data processing as well as application programming interface (API) management.

An Analysis of China’s AI Governance Proposals

Hipolito Calero
| September 12, 2024

This blog post analyzes five major Chinese AI governance proposals, focusing on the key actors specified in each proposal. We find that older proposals lack specificity when identifying AI governance actors. Recent proposals, on the other hand, assign roles and responsibilities to a defined set of actors. The findings from this blog post can help policymakers and analysts better understand China’s fast-evolving AI governance landscape.

A Growing Yard: The Biden Administration’s China Export Controls Are Ensnaring CPUs

Jacob Feldgoise, Hanna Dohmen, and Brian Love
| August 22, 2024

Since 2022, U.S. export controls have restricted the highest-performing AI chips from being exported to China. The Biden administration likely did not intend to control CPUs (i.e., general-purpose processors) with these restrictions. However, CPUs are increasingly subject to export controls because chip designers are incorporating specialized elements for AI computation into CPUs. In this blog post, we discuss the implications of controlling AI-capable CPUs and make recommendations for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act has officially come into force today after more than five years of legislative processes and negotiations. While marking a significant milestone, it also initiates a prolonged phase of implementation, refinement, and enforcement. This blog post outlines key aspects of the regulation, such as rules for general-purpose AI and governance structures, and provides insights into its timeline and future expectations.

Evaluating Large Language Models

Thomas Woodside and Helen Toner
| July 17, 2024

Researchers, companies, and policymakers have dedicated increasing attention to evaluating large language models (LLMs). This explainer covers why researchers are interested in evaluations, as well as some common evaluations and associated challenges. While evaluations can be helpful for monitoring progress, assessing risk, and determining whether to use a model for a specific purpose, they are still at a very early stage.

Now that the first set of milestones has passed for the Biden administration’s October 2023 executive order on artificial intelligence, where do things stand for biotech? This blog post gives an overview of the most recent action items, with a recap of expert commentary from CSET’s June 2024 Webinar on the AIxBio Policy Landscape.

Measuring Success in Place-Based Innovation

Hayes Meredith and Jaret C. Riddick
| May 10, 2024

The Biden Administration’s “Investing in America'' agenda designates $80 billion to focus on “place-based industrial policy,” representing a historic level of government investment. Policymakers across government need to understand how these investments help the United States to stay ahead of its primary strategic competitors, China and Russia. This post previews a CSET study that will explore how the creation and design of place-based innovation centers can enhance both U.S. economic and national security.