The United States called on G20 members to adopt common principles for regulating and developing emerging technologies and artificial intelligence, emphasizing that this consensus does not mean harmonizing national laws or establishing identical regulatory bodies across countries.
The call came during the first day of the G20 Innovation Ministers’ Meeting, hosted by the United States in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The meeting discussed encouraging innovation in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, supporting the adoption of artificial intelligence in the public sector, and developing a qualified technology workforce, with the participation of executives from the technology sector.
Carolina Principles as a Common Framework
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said policymakers do not need to treat every innovation as a separate and unprecedented regulatory problem. Instead, he called for broad principles based on the requirements of the science and technology development cycle.
Kratsios explained that the G20 Innovation Working Group had completed, within a few months, the preparation of what are known as the “Carolina Principles.” According to his presentation, members that adopt these principles agree on objectives including investing in basic research, supporting the transformation of innovations into commercial products and services, and ensuring the adoption of reliable technologies.
However, the U.S. official stressed that the principles do not mean aligning legal systems or unifying regulatory bodies. Their essence, according to Anadolu Agency, is recognizing shared objectives that can help countries deliver the benefits of technology to their populations.
Divergent Positions on Regulation and the Economy
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said via videoconference that excessive regulation slows technological progress, while also calling for support for new companies and encouraging small businesses to grow. He estimated that artificial intelligence could increase the size of the global economy by between 20 and 30 percent, equivalent to an approximate annual increase of $20 trillion to $30 trillion. These figures were presented by Musk as a rough estimate and were not a result announced at the meeting.
Musk also said that artificial intelligence would deliver major productivity gains and that robots could produce even sharper increases in productivity. He stated that artificial intelligence could become capable of carrying out nearly everything digital by the end of next year and that it would surpass humans by a wide margin in software; these are predictions attributed to him and are not established facts in the material.
What Does This Mean in Practice?
The meeting presents a policy direction, not a binding regulatory agreement at this stage. The proposed approach seeks to combine investment in research with the safe commercialization of technologies, while leaving the details of laws to each country. This may matter to artificial intelligence companies and government entities seeking common ground for cooperation, but it does not yet answer how the “reliability” of technology will be measured or how the principles will be applied across different legal systems.
For his part, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said the company was working on artificial intelligence agents that it wants to make available to billions of people. He said artificial intelligence could reduce the capital and number of workers needed to start companies, but warned that the transition period would not be entirely positive, emphasizing the need to invest in enabling people to use the new tools.
Zuckerberg defended open-source artificial intelligence, saying its capabilities should not remain confined to a small group of people and that open access should not be subject to restriction or closure. The second day of the meeting is scheduled to include speeches by Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.