Biden Meets Microsoft and Google CEOs on AI Risks
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President Joe Biden participated in a White House meeting on Thursday with the CEOs of leading artificial intelligence companies, including Alphabet Inc’s Google and Microsoft, to discuss risks and safeguards as the technology gains the attention of governments and legislators.
This year, generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword, with apps like ChatGPT capturing the public’s attention and causing a rush among businesses to introduce similar products that they believe will alter the nature of work.
Millions of users have begun testing such tools, which proponents claim can make medical diagnoses, write screenplays, create legal briefs, and debug software, causing growing concern that the technology could lead to privacy breaches, skewed employment decisions, power scams, and misinformation campaigns.
A White House official told Reuters that Biden, who “dropped by” the meeting, also uses ChatGPT. “He has been thoroughly briefed on ChatGPT and has experimented with it,” said an official who requested anonymity.
Thursday’s two-hour meeting which began at 11:45 am ET (1545 GMT), includes Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Corp’s Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and administration officials including Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
Harris stated in a statement that while the technology has the potential to enhance lives, it may also pose safety, privacy, and civil rights concerns. She told the chief executives that they have a “legal responsibility” to ensure the safety of their artificial intelligence products and that the administration is willing to advance new regulations and support new artificial intelligence legislation.
Altman of OpenAI told reporters before the meeting that the White House wants to “get it right.”
When asked if the White House was moving quickly enough on AI regulation, he replied, “It’s good to try to get ahead of it.” “It will undoubtedly be a challenge, but one I am confident we can overcome.”
The administration also announced a $140 million investment from the National Science Foundation to establish seven new AI research institutes and that the White House’s Office of Management and Budget would issue policy guidance on the federal government’s use of AI. Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face, NVIDIA Corp, OpenAI, and Stability AI will take part in a public evaluation of their AI systems.
Shortly after Biden announced his reelection candidacy, the Republican National Committee produced a video depicting a dystopian future during a second Biden term using only artificial intelligence (AI)-generated imagery.
As AI technology proliferates, such political ads are anticipated to become more prevalent.
United States regulators have fallen short of the rigorous approach European governments have taken to tech regulation and the development of strong rules regarding deepfakes and disinformation.
The senior official stated, “We don’t see this as a race,” adding that the administration is working closely with the U.S.-EU Trade & Technology Council on the matter.
In February, Vice President Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate bias in the use of artificial intelligence. In addition, the Biden administration has issued a Bill of Rights for AI and a risk management framework.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice announced last week that they would use their legal authority to combat AI-related injury.
Tech titans have repeatedly pledged to combat election propaganda, false information about the COVID-19 vaccines, pornography and child exploitation, and hateful messages directed at ethnic groups. However, research and current events demonstrate their failure.
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