Vice President Harris on Thursday was set to meet with several tech companies’ chief executives to discuss the responsible development of artificial intelligence.
The execs she planned to meet with represented Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic.
The meeting was scheduled for the same day that the White House unveiled actions to “further promote responsible American innovation in artificial intelligence” that would “protect people’s rights and safety.”
“AI is one of the most powerful technologies of our time, but in order to seize the opportunities it presents, we must first mitigate its risks,” the White House said in a statement. “President Biden has been clear that when it comes to AI, we must place people and communities at the center by supporting responsible innovation that serves the public good, while protecting our society, security, and economy.”
The White House added that companies have a “fundamental responsibility” to make sure their products are safe before taking them public.
At Thursday’s meeting, Harris will also be joined by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar.
Generative AI fully entered the public consciousness late last year when OpenAI released a viral chatbot called ChatGPT.
In the months since, Microsoft entered into a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar deal to integrate OpenAI’s generative technology across many of its products.
In February, President Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to root out racial bias and “algorithmic discrimination” in the designing of emerging technologies.
And last week, several federal agencies—the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—issued a joint agreement “to uphold America’s commitment to the core principles of fairness, equality, and justice as emerging automated systems…[begin] impacting civil rights, fair competition, consumer protection, and equal opportunity.”
“The Administration is also actively working to address the national security concerns raised by AI, especially in critical areas like cybersecurity, biosecurity, and safety,” he White House added Thursday, “This includes enlisting the support of government cybersecurity experts from across the national security community to ensure leading AI companies have access to best practices, including protection of AI models and networks.”
