Biden Meets with Microsoft and Google CEOs on AI Dangers Tech

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden met on Thursday with CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies, including Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, to make sure their products are secure before they are deployed. bottom.

Generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword this year, with apps such as ChatGPT gaining mass attention and prompting companies to rush to launch similar products that they believe will change the nature of work.

Millions of users have begun testing such tools, with proponents saying they can make medical diagnoses, write scripts, create legal briefs and debug software. and there are growing concerns about how this technology can lead to privacy violations, distortion of employment decisions, power fraud and misinformation. campaign.

Biden, who has experimented with Chat GPT, told officials that the current and potential risks AI poses to individuals, society and national security must be mitigated, according to the White House.

The conference included “candid and constructive discussion” about the need for companies to be more transparent with policymakers about AI systems. The importance of evaluating the safety of such products; the White House added that they should be protected against malicious attacks.

Thursday’s two-hour meeting, which began at 11:45 a.m. ET (1545 GMT), included Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Corp’s Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Vice President Kamala Harris, It included government officials, including Biden’s chief of staff. Jeff Zientz, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimond.

In a statement, Harris said the technology has the potential to improve lives, but could raise concerns about safety, privacy and civil rights. He said the administration has a “legal responsibility” to ensure the safety of artificial intelligence products, and that the administration is willing to push forward with new regulations and support new laws on artificial intelligence.

Responding to a question about whether the two companies had the same perception of regulation, Altman told reporters after the meeting, “We have, surprisingly, the same perception of what needs to happen. ‘ said.
The administration also announced a $140 million investment from the National Science Foundation to launch seven new AI research institutes, and the White House Office of Management and Budget issued policy guidance on federal use of AI. said to announce.

Leading AI developers such as Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face, NVIDIA Corp, OpenAI and Stability AI participate in public evaluation of AI systems.

Shortly after Biden announced his candidacy for re-election, the Republican National Committee created a video featuring a dystopian future for Biden’s second term. This video was made entirely with his AI images.

Such political advertising is expected to become more common as AI technology becomes more prevalent.

U.S. regulators have failed to keep up with the rigorous approach taken by European governments to technical regulation and the creation of strong rules against deep fakes and misinformation.

“We don’t see this as a competition,” said a senior administration official, adding that the administration is working closely with the US-EU Trade and Technology Council on the issue.

In February, Mr. Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to de-bias their use of AI. The Biden administration also unveiled the AI ​​Bill of Rights and Risk Management Framework.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Office for Civil Rights also said they would use their legal powers to combat AI-related harm.

Tech giants have repeatedly promised to fight election propaganda, fake news about the COVID-19 vaccine, pornography and child exploitation, and hateful messages targeting ethnic groups. However, studies and news events have shown that they have not been successful.