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Artificial intelligence
TechTech War

US wants AI providers like Amazon, Google and Microsoft to disclose foreign clients amid tech war with China

  • The Biden administration proposal requires firms to reveal foreign customers’ names and IP addresses, forcing tech giants to devise a budget for it
  • Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Friday her team was working to eradicate national security threats posed by AI development

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US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks during the United States Conference of Mayors 91st Winter Meeting on January 20, 2023, in Washington. Photo: TNS
Bloomberg
The US wants cloud services providers such as Amazon.com and Microsoft to actively investigate and call out foreign clients developing artificial intelligence (AI) applications on their platforms, escalating a tech conflict between Washington and Beijing.
The Biden administration's proposal, scheduled for release on Monday, requires such firms to reveal foreign customers’ names and IP addresses. Amazon and its peers, which include Alphabet’s Google, would have to devise a budget for collecting those details and report any suspicious activity, according to draft rule published Sunday.

If implemented, Washington could use those requirements to choke off a major avenue through which Chinese firms access the data centres and servers crucial to training and hosting AI applications.

They also place the onus of collecting, storing and analysing customer data on the cloud services, a burden not unlike strict “know-your-customer” rules that govern the financial industry. US cloud providers have worried that restrictions on their activities with overseas users without comparable measures by allied countries risks disadvantaging American firms.

Representatives for Microsoft, Amazon and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside normal US hours. A Commerce Department representative referred Bloomberg to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s comments last week.

Raimondo said on Friday her team was working to eradicate national security threats posed by AI development, an effort likely to focus on firms from China. Washington, which has already worked to constrain Beijing’s access to the most advanced semiconductors, wants to limit Chinese firms’ ability to develop AI with potential military capabilities.

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