Topline
The White House on Thursday outlined its plan to tackle emerging risks from artificial intelligence, hours before Vice President Kamala Harris is set to meet top executives from Google, Microsoft and OpenAI to discuss the impact of the fast-developing technology, which faces growing calls for regulation.
US Vice President Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden depart after delivering remarks during … [+]
Key Facts
In a statement, the White House announced $140 million in funding from the National Science Foundation to help establish seven new National AI Research Institutes to help drive responsible AI innovation.
The Biden administration is also committing to release a draft policy on the U.S. government’s use of AI technology—to ensure people’s rights and safety are protected—which will be open to public comments.
Major industry players including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Stability AI, NVIDIA, Hugging Face and Anthropic have agreed to open their AI systems up for public evaluation to ensure they align with the administration’s plans for regulation, the statement added.
The CEOs of Alphabet, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI—which the White House calls the “four American companies at the forefront of AI innovation”—will meet Harris and other senior Biden administration officials Thursday to discuss efforts to tackle risks and harms from the emerging technology.
The meeting is intended to be a “frank discussion” about the responsibilities these companies face and to ensure that their technologies are safe, the Financial Times reported, citing a senior U.S. official.
The White House also noted that the Biden administration is also working to tackle potential national security concerns emerging from AI, especially in areas like “cybersecurity, biosecurity, and safety” by enlisting cybersecurity experts from national security agencies.
Crucial Quote
The White House’s announcement comes just a day after Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan penned an op-ed in the New York Times calling for the regulation of AI. She wrote: “A handful of powerful businesses control the necessary raw materials that start-ups and other companies rely on to develop and deploy A.I. tools…Dominant firms could use their control over these key inputs to exclude or discriminate against downstream rivals, picking winners and losers in ways that further entrench their dominance.”
Key Background
The White House initiative and Khan’s remarks come amid growing scrutiny on the impact of AI on people, their jobs and their safety. Earlier this week, Geoffrey Hinton—the so-called “Godfather of A.I.”—announced his exit from Google and issued a warning about risks the technology may pose including being exploited by “bad actors.” In an interview with the BBC, Hinton described the current state of AI chatbots as “quite scary,” adding that, “right now, they’re not more intelligent than us… But I think they soon may be.” In late March, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and hundreds of other technologists, executives and academics signed a petition calling for an “immediate pause” in AI development to better understand risks associated with the technology.
Tangent
In the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority also launched its own review of the AI market on Wednesday with a focus on the models powering popular AI services such as ChatGPT. The antitrust agency says its assessment plans to gain an understanding of the competitive market for AI models along with the opportunities and risks they may pose to competition and consumers. The agency’s chief executive Sarah Cardell told the Financial Times the CMA would examine “what kind of guardrails, what principles, we should be developing in terms of ensuring that competition is working effectively [and] consumers are being protected.”
Further Reading
White House convenes tech executives for ‘frank discussion’ of AI risks (Financial Times)
Lina Khan: We Must Regulate A.I. Here’s How. (New York Times)
‘The Godfather of A.I.’ Leaves Google and Warns of Danger Ahead (New York Times)
Elon Musk And Tech Leaders Call For AI ‘Pause’ Over Risks To Humanity (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/05/04/plan-to-tackle-ai-risks-outlined-by-biden-administration-as-calls-for-regulation-grow/