White House Says Tech Giants Have ‘moral Duty About AIs Dangers
WASHINGTON, United States - The White House on Thursday told US AI giants they have a "moral" responsibility to protect society from the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.
Vice President Kamala Harris urged executives from Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic to develop an AI impact strategy.
Harris said CEOs including Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella have a "moral" obligation to protect society from the dangers of artificial intelligence.
In a statement after the call, Harris said companies "must comply with the laws that exist to protect the American people" and "must protect the safety of their products."
US President Joe Biden came to the meeting soon after and told the assembled CEOs: “There is great potential and great risk in what you are doing.
"I know you will understand. I hope you can tell us what you think is most important to protect and move society forward," he said in a video released later by the White House.
Biden has urged Congress to pass legislation that would impose tighter restrictions on the tech sector, but his efforts are unlikely to succeed due to the political divide.
The lack of regulation has given Silicon Valley the opportunity to bring new products to market quickly, raising concerns that AI technologies could wreak havoc on society before the government catches on.
"It's good to try to move forward," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told reporters before the conference. It sparked rumours.
Microsoft has quickly implemented AI chatbot capabilities to generate natural text responses to short queries on its Bing search engine and other products.
On Thursday, despite criticism and a White House meeting, the Windows maker expanded public access to its generative artificial intelligence software.
Risks associated with AI include potential for fraud, voice clones, fake videos, and widely crafted messages.
It is now a threat to office jobs, especially low-skilled management jobs.
In March, many experts called for a halt to the development of powerful artificial intelligence systems to give security time, although a shutdown is unlikely.
The White House used Thursday's meeting to announce new steps to "promote responsible American innovation in artificial intelligence."
That includes giving $140 million to advance AI research and creating a ranking system that works to "solve problems" with Big Tech.
"Don't expect this to lead to anything particularly important, but it's a good start," said David Harris, an associate professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
Race to the bottom
Google, Meta, and Microsoft have been working on AI systems for years to help with translation, web search, security, and targeted advertising.
But when San Francisco-based OpenAI launched ChatGPT last year, it drew the public's attention to generative AI and forced competitors to respond.
Google has invited users in the US and UK to try out an artificial intelligence chatbot called Bard, which suggests new ways to use Facebook's meta ad technology.
And in March, billionaire Elon Musk founded X.AI, an artificial intelligence company based in Nevada, USA.
Ahead of a White House meeting focused on artificial intelligence, the United States' top regulator has signaled that he will not back down from enforcing US government regulations and security measures.
"Can we stay home for advanced technology without resorting to racist business models and monopoly control?" Lena Kahn, head of the Federal Trade Commission, wrote in an op-ed piece in the New York Times.
"Yes, if we make the right political decision."
