How best to regulate Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has exploded in capability in recent years, offering unprecedented advances in fields such as computer vision, language processing, robotics and more. In contrast, the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, takes a more prescriptive approach of classifying AI systems based on risk perceptions and imposing graded regulatory requirements accordingly. We propose a third approach based on CAS thinking with five principles: First, guardrails and partitions should establish clear boundary conditions to constrain undesirable AI behaviours. Hard “guardrails” should ensure that AI systems don’t steer into obviously risky territories such as nuclear weapons. To prevent systemic failures, it’s essential to erect “partition walls” between distinct AI systems.