(Photo credit: Josep LAGO / AFP)
CEOs of leading technology companies gathered to discuss the impact and regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) with US Vice President Kamala Harris. During the conference, the US Vice President told CEOs they had a moral responsibility to protect society from the potential dangers of AI.
Harris met at the White House with the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic. AI, she said, “has the potential to improve people’s lives and tackle some of society’s greatest challenges.”
“As I shared today with CEOs of companies at the forefront of AI innovation in the United States, the private sector has an ethical, moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety and security of their products,” Harris said. said in a statement.
“At the same time, AI can dramatically increase threats to safety and security, violate civil rights and privacy, and undermine public trust and confidence in democracy.”
Harris said she and President Joe Biden temporarily stopped by the meeting to support “promoting potential new regulations and supporting new legislation.”
Microsoft’s generative AI programs are now available to the public
Meanwhile, when tech leaders debated the technology at the White House, Microsoft announced its commitment to generative AI programs, despite concerns that tech companies were rushing into potentially dangerous technology. Expanded public access.
Microsoft’s AI-enhanced features, such as the Bing search engine and Edge internet browser, are now available to everyone, corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post.
“This means it’s easier than ever for anyone to try out the new Bing and Edge by simply signing into Bing with their Microsoft account,” Mehdi said.
Executives say the service has been hardened to handle images as well as text, and Microsoft plans to add video to the mix.
Mehdi said Bing’s “image creator” was recently integrated into its repertoire of AI chatbots, allowing it to generate text content as well as visual content.
“We are extending Image Creator to all Bing languages. Now you can create images in your native language,” he added.
Addressing AI concerns, Mehdi said: Also, putting the new Bing in preview so we can learn from real-world testing and feedback has been critical to our success and ability to expand the experience to more users.
We believe innovation and open learning are part of a responsible approach. But that’s not all. We continue to work with our partners at OpenAI to implement safeguards to defend against harmful content based on what we’ve learned and seen in the preview. Our team continues to address issues such as misinformation and disinformation, content blocking, data safety, and prevent the promotion of harmful or discriminatory content in line with AI principles. . ”
Risks posed by AI include the possibility of being used for fraud, such as voice cloning, deep fake videos, and persuasive written messages.
Various experts urged in March to pause the development of powerful AI systems to give them time to make sure they are secure.
Their open letter, signed by more than 1,000 people, including billionaire Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was fueled by generative AI technology from the Microsoft-backed company OpenAI.
“AI systems with intelligence that can compete with humans could pose significant risks to society and humanity,” the letter read.
“A strong AI system should only be developed if we are confident that its effectiveness will be positive and the risks manageable.”
Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent computer scientist often referred to as the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” recently quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of technology.
Hinton recently said on the MIT forum that it makes sense to stop developing AI. But the idea is naive given the fierce competition between countries and companies involved in the sector, he added.
Hinton, who created some of the underlying technologies for AI systems, argued that existential threats from AI were “serious and near.”
According to Mehdi, in the three months since AI-powered Bing and Edge were launched, more than 500 million chats have taken place.
To date, Microsoft has seen more than 200 million images created using Bing Creator software, Mehdi said.
“We believe innovation and open learning are part of a responsible approach,” he added.
“Our team continues to address issues such as misinformation and disinformation, content blocking, data safety, and prevent the promotion of harmful or discriminatory content in line with AI principles. increase.”
With additional report from Agence France-Presse
