The Vice President of the United States and top advisers to President Joe Biden held a meeting with several AI industry CEOs to discuss “concerns about the risks associated with AI”.
On May 4, US Vice President Kamala Harris was joined by nine of the Biden administration’s top advisers in science, national security, politics and economics, meeting with the CEOs of OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and the AI startup anthropogenic.
Notably, tech giant Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was absent from the meeting.
Prior to the meeting, the White House released a flurry of AI-related announcements regarding funding for AI research facilities, government AI policy, and AI systems evaluation.
The meeting focused on the transparency of AI systems, the importance of assessing and validating AI security and ensuring that AI is protected from malicious actorsaccording to the ad.
Advancements in technology always present new opportunities and challenges. Generative AI is no different.
Today, I met with CEOs of companies at the forefront of these advances to discuss the responsibility of governments and companies to mitigate risk to protect the public. pic.twitter.com/YQOkdv1BgR
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 5, 2023
According to reports, government and tech CEOs have agreed that “more work is needed to develop and ensure appropriate safeguards and protections” for AI.
The CEOs pledged to engage with the White House to ensure Americans can “benefit from AI innovation.” No specific details have been shared on what safeguards are needed or what exactly engaging with the government entails.
Zuckerberg was absent from the meeting despite Meta working on AI for years. A White House official said CNN, “It was focused on companies currently leading in the space.”
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most powerful tools of our time, but to seize its opportunities, we must first mitigate its risks.
Today, I dropped by for a meeting with AI leaders to discuss the importance of innovating responsibly and protecting people’s rights and safety. pic.twitter.com/VEJjBrhCTW
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 4, 2023
The Biden administration also highlighted its work to address national security concerns posed by AI, specifically mentioning cybersecurity and biosecurity, without going into specifics.
He said these efforts would ensure that AI companies “have access to best practices” to protect AI networks from state cybersecurity experts in the “national security community.”
The White House relies heavily on AI
On the same day, the Biden administration announced it would set aside $140 million to launch seven new National AI Research Institutes, bringing the total to 25 across the country.
“These institutes strengthen America’s AI (research and development) infrastructure,” the White House said. He added that the institutes would “drive breakthroughs” in areas such as “climate, agriculture, energy, public health, education and cybersecurity.”
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In a separate announcement, the government said AI development companies including Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, NVIDIA, Hugging Face and Stability AI will also participate in the public evaluation of AI systems on a platform. -shape the AI training company Scale AI at the DEFCON hacker convention in August.
We’ve been working hard on the Generative Red Team event we’re hosting at @defcon for some time and are delighted that the @White House announced it this morning. Here are more details:https://t.co/04oXIqXrKr
— AI Village @DEF CON (@aivillage_dc) May 4, 2023
Finally, the White House said it will release a draft policy on how the US government will use AI, which will be made available for public comment this summer.
Policies regarding the development, use and procurement of AI by federal departments and agencies will be drafted. He said the policies would be a model for state and local governments in their own procurement and use of AI.
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