International Security Applications of Flexible Hardware-Enabled Guarantees

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2506.15100v1
• Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2025 03:10:49 GMT
• Title: International Security Applications of Flexible Hardware-Enabled Guarantees
• Authors: Onni Aarne, James Petrie,
• Abstract summary: flexHEGs could enable internationally trustworthy AI governance by establishing standardized designs, robust ecosystem defenses, and clear operational parameters for AI-relevant chips.<n>We analyze four critical international security applications: limiting proliferation to address malicious use, implementing safety norms to prevent loss of control, managing risks from military AI systems, and supporting strategic stability through balance-of-power mechanisms while respecting national sovereignty.<n>Report addresses critical implementation challenges including technical thresholds for AI-relevant chips, management of existing non-flexHEG hardware, and safeguards against abuse of governance power.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: As AI capabilities advance rapidly, flexible hardware-enabled guarantees (flexHEGs) offer opportunities to address international security challenges through comprehensive governance frameworks. This report examines how flexHEGs could enable internationally trustworthy AI governance by establishing standardized designs, robust ecosystem defenses, and clear operational parameters for AI-relevant chips. We analyze four critical international security applications: limiting proliferation to address malicious use, implementing safety norms to prevent loss of control, managing risks from military AI systems, and supporting strategic stability through balance-of-power mechanisms while respecting national sovereignty. The report explores both targeted deployments for specific high-risk facilities and comprehensive deployments covering all AI-relevant compute. We examine two primary governance models: verification-based agreements that enable transparent compliance monitoring, and ruleset-based agreements that automatically enforce international rules through cryptographically-signed updates. Through game-theoretic analysis, we demonstrate that comprehensive flexHEG agreements could remain stable under reasonable assumptions about state preferences and catastrophic risks. The report addresses critical implementation challenges including technical thresholds for AI-relevant chips, management of existing non-flexHEG hardware, and safeguards against abuse of governance power. While requiring significant international coordination, flexHEGs could provide a technical foundation for managing AI risks at the scale and speed necessary to address emerging threats to international security and stability.

Related papers

• Flexible Hardware-Enabled Guarantees for AI Compute [0.0]
  We propose flexible hardware-enabled guarantees (flexHEGs) to enable trustworthy, privacy-preserving verification and enforcement of claims about AI development.<n>flexHEGs consist of an auditable guarantee processor that monitors accelerator usage and a secure enclosure providing physical tamper protection.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-06-18T03:04:44Z)
• Technical Options for Flexible Hardware-Enabled Guarantees [0.0]
  We propose a system integrated with AI accelerator hardware to enable verifiable claims about compute usage in AI development.<n>The flexHEG system consists of two primary components: an auditable Guarantee Processor that monitors accelerator usage and verifies compliance with specified rules, and a Secure Enclosure that provides physical tamper protection.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-06-03T21:37:43Z)
• Watermarking Without Standards Is Not AI Governance [46.71493672772134]
  We argue that current implementations risk serving as symbolic compliance rather than delivering effective oversight.<n>We propose a three-layer framework encompassing technical standards, audit infrastructure, and enforcement mechanisms.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-05-27T18:10:04Z)
• Zero-Trust Foundation Models: A New Paradigm for Secure and Collaborative Artificial Intelligence for Internet of Things [61.43014629640404]
  Zero-Trust Foundation Models (ZTFMs) embed zero-trust security principles into the lifecycle of foundation models (FMs) for Internet of Things (IoT) systems.<n>ZTFMs can enable secure, privacy-preserving AI across distributed, heterogeneous, and potentially adversarial IoT environments.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-05-26T06:44:31Z)
• A Framework for the Assurance of AI-Enabled Systems [0.0]
  This paper proposes a claims-based framework for risk management and assurance of AI systems.<n>The paper's contributions are a framework process for AI assurance, a set of relevant definitions, and a discussion of important considerations in AI assurance.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-04-03T13:44:01Z)
• In-House Evaluation Is Not Enough: Towards Robust Third-Party Flaw Disclosure for General-Purpose AI [93.33036653316591]
  We call for three interventions to advance system safety.<n>First, we propose using standardized AI flaw reports and rules of engagement for researchers.<n>Second, we propose GPAI system providers adopt broadly-scoped flaw disclosure programs.<n>Third, we advocate for the development of improved infrastructure to coordinate distribution of flaw reports.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-03-21T05:09:46Z)
• Position: Mind the Gap-the Growing Disconnect Between Established Vulnerability Disclosure and AI Security [56.219994752894294]
  We argue that adapting existing processes for AI security reporting is doomed to fail due to fundamental shortcomings for the distinctive characteristics of AI systems.<n>Based on our proposal to address these shortcomings, we discuss an approach to AI security reporting and how the new AI paradigm, AI agents, will further reinforce the need for specialized AI security incident reporting advancements.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-12-19T13:50:26Z)
• Towards Assuring EU AI Act Compliance and Adversarial Robustness of LLMs [1.368472250332885]
  Large language models are prone to misuse and vulnerable to security threats. The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act seeks to enforce AI robustness in certain contexts.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-10-04T18:38:49Z)
• Towards Guaranteed Safe AI: A Framework for Ensuring Robust and Reliable AI Systems [88.80306881112313]
  We will introduce and define a family of approaches to AI safety, which we will refer to as guaranteed safe (GS) AI. The core feature of these approaches is that they aim to produce AI systems which are equipped with high-assurance quantitative safety guarantees. We outline a number of approaches for creating each of these three core components, describe the main technical challenges, and suggest a number of potential solutions to them.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-05-10T17:38:32Z)
• International Institutions for Advanced AI [47.449762587672986]
  International institutions may have an important role to play in ensuring advanced AI systems benefit humanity. This paper identifies a set of governance functions that could be performed at an international level to address these challenges. It groups these functions into four institutional models that exhibit internal synergies and have precedents in existing organizations.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-07-10T16:55:55Z)
• The Opportunity to Regulate Cybersecurity in the EU (and the World): Recommendations for the Cybersecurity Resilience Act [1.2691047660244335]
  Safety is becoming cybersecurity under most circumstances. This should be reflected in the Cybersecurity Resilience Act when it is proposed and agreed upon in the European Union. It is based on what the cybersecurity research community for long have asked for, and on what constitutes clear hard legal rules instead of soft.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-05-26T07:20:44Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.