Biden White House, Tech Companies Launch New Safeguards Around Emerging AI Technology
President Joe Biden met with technology leaders in the White House on Friday to highlight what he believes are new voluntary steps companies are taking to increase safety and transparency about emerging AI technologies.
Seven major AI companies — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — announced on Friday that they have committed to allow third-party security testing of their products, share AI risk management data with governments, civil society and academia, and provide a way to identify content created by their AI products with digital watermarks.
Before his meeting with company executives, the president made brief remarks, highlighting what he described as the promise of AI and the dangers to society.
"It's incredible, artificial intelligence, or -- it holds great, great promise at risk for our society and our economy and our national security, but it's also an incredible opportunity, an incredible opportunity," Biden said.
"Most of them are back to pressing for accountability and for making sure the products they make are safe and -- and they're public about what they are and what they aren't," Biden said, recalling when he and Vice President Kamala Harris met with leaders two months ago.
The steps are being taken voluntarily by companies and described by the White House as "pushing the limits of what companies are doing and raising the bar for AI security and trust."
Even so, Biden has signaled that more steps are needed to ensure the safety of the new technology and has called for executive action and legislation to that end.
"These commitments, these promises are a promising step, but we still have a lot of work to do together. Realizing the promise of AI when it comes to risk management will require some new laws, regulations and oversight. In the coming weeks, I will continue to take executive action to help move America towards responsible innovation. And we said both sides will work together to enact adequate legislation."
"It's a big responsibility. We have to get it right. And there's a huge, huge upside potential," he said.
Biden also cited efforts by his administration and Congress to regulate social media companies.
"Social media has shown us what damage powerful technology can do without proper protection," he said.
The president's growing push to curb AI comes as political campaigns are increasingly experimenting with its use and as concerns about potential abuse mount. Experts warn against spreading disinformation, for example through the use of artificially created images or videos.
The president alluded to those concerns on Friday, albeit ambiguously.
Just before entering the room, a reporter jokingly asked the assembled technical officials whether they were true or false.
Biden poked his head into the room — seemingly listening to the exchange — and smiled: "I'm in the ER."
