AI Model Registries: A Foundational Tool for AI Governance

TL;DR

This paper advocates for national AI model registries as a key governance tool, detailing their design, implementation, and potential to improve safety, transparency, and innovation in AI development.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive framework for AI model registries, emphasizing design principles, key information to collect, and enforcement strategies to support AI governance.

Findings

Registry design can enhance AI safety and transparency.

Timely registration encourages responsible AI development.

Registry implementation can balance innovation with regulation.

Abstract

In this report, we propose the implementation of national registries for frontier AI models as a foundational tool for AI governance. We explore the rationale, design, and implementation of such registries, drawing on comparisons with registries in analogous industries to make recommendations for a registry that is efficient, unintrusive, and which will bring AI governance closer to parity with the governmental insight into other high-impact industries. We explore key information that should be collected, including model architecture, model size, compute and data used during training, and we survey the viability and utility of evaluations developed specifically for AI. Our proposal is designed to provide governmental insight and enhance AI safety while fostering innovation and minimizing the regulatory burden on developers. By providing a framework that respects intellectual property concerns and safeguards sensitive information, this registry approach supports responsible AI development without impeding progress. We propose that timely and accurate registration should be encouraged primarily through injunctive action, by requiring third parties to use only registered models, and secondarily through direct financial penalties for non-compliance. By providing a comprehensive framework for AI model registries, we aim to support policymakers in developing foundational governance structures to monitor and mitigate risks associated with advanced AI systems.