紐時賞析／公民自由和國安的取捨 美情報機構備忘錄揭對AI及私人數據規範

美國政府長久以來對於機構收集關於美國人的個人數據一直有所限制。（紐約時報）

Spy Agency Memo Sets Rules for Using A.I. and Americans’ Private Data

情報機構備忘錄 對AI及私人數據規範

A previously confidential directive by Biden administration lawyers lays out how military and spy agencies must handle personal information about Americans when using artificial intelligence, showing how the officials grappled with trade-offs between civil liberties and national security.

拜登政府律師先前的一份機密指令，列出軍方和間諜機構使用人工智慧時，必須如何處理美國人的個人資訊，顯示官員們如何設法在公民自由和國家安全之間權衡取捨。

The results of that internal debate also underscore the constraints and challenges the government faces in issuing rules that keep pace with rapid advances in technology, particularly in electronic surveillance and related areas of computer-assisted intelligence gathering and analysis.

這場內部討論的結果，也凸顯拜登政府要制定跟上科技快速進步的規範，所面臨的限制和挑戰，尤其是在電子監控和電腦輔助情資收集與分析相關領域。

The administration had to navigate two competing goals, according to a senior administration official, Joshua Geltzer, the top legal adviser to the National Security Council: “harnessing emerging technology to protect Americans, and establishing guardrails for safeguarding Americans’ privacy and other considerations.”

美國政府資深官員、國家安全會議首席法律顧問蓋爾澤指出，政府必須引領兩個相互衝突的目標：「利用新興科技保護美國人，並建立維護美國人隱私和其他考量的護欄。」

The White House last month held back the four-page, unclassified directive when President Joe Biden signed a major national security memo that pushes military and intelligence agencies to make greater use of AI within certain guardrails.

拜登總統上月簽署一份重大國家安全備忘錄，推動軍事和情資機構在特定護欄下加強利用人工智慧，但白宮擱置了四頁非機密指令。

After inquiries from The New York Times, the White House has made the guidance public. A close read and an interview with Geltzer, who oversaw the deliberations by lawyers from across the executive branch, offers greater clarity on the current rules that national security agencies must follow when experimenting with using AI.

經紐約時報詢問後，白宮公佈了這份指南。仔細閱讀這份指南，並採訪監督各行政部門律師審議的蓋爾澤，更加清楚國家安全機構嘗試使用人工智慧時必須遵循的現行規範。

Training AI systems requires feeding them large amounts of data, raising a critical question for intelligence agencies that could influence both Americans’ private interests and the ability of national security agencies to experiment with the technology. When an agency acquires an AI system trained by a private sector firm using information about Americans, is that considered “collecting” the data of those Americans?

訓練人工智慧系統需要提供它們大量數據，爲情報機構帶來一個關鍵問題，這可能影響美國人的私人利益和國家安全機構嘗試這項科技的能力。當一個機構取得由民營部門企業使用美國人資訊訓練的人工智慧系統時，是否被視爲是「收集」那些美國人的數據？

The guidance says that does not generally count as collecting the training data — so those existing privacy-protecting rules, along with a 2021 directive about collecting commercially available databases, are not yet triggered.

這份指南寫道，這通常不算收集訓練數據，因此尚未觸發現有隱私保護規範，以及2021年一項關於收集商業可用資料庫的指令。

Still, the Biden team was not absolute on that question. The guidance leaves open the possibility that acquisition might count as collection if the agency has the ability to access the training data in its original form, “as well as the authorization and intent to do so.”

儘管如此，拜登團隊在那個問題上並非不受任何限制。這份指南保留的一種可能性，即若機構有能力存取訓練數據的原始形式，「以及有這麼做的授權和意圖」，則這種獲取行爲可能被視爲收集。

文／Charlie Savage　譯／羅方妤