Navigating AI Ethics: U.S. Government’s Bold Initiative
The United States government recently announced the allocation of $140 million for the establishment of seven novel artificial intelligence research and development centers, ensuring that AI technologies do not jeopardize public safety. Subsequently, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients met with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others, urging technology industry leaders to uphold ethical, responsible, and lawful standards to ensure the safety and reliability of AI products.
Kamala Harris believes that auto-generative AI technologies such as Bard, ChatGPT, and Bing Chat can facilitate national growth while potentially exposing the country to significant challenges, as exemplified by the technology-induced shift in the 2016 U.S. presidential election outcome.
During the meeting with technology industry representatives, the U.S. government hoped to emphasize the risks that AI technologies may pose and explore ways to mitigate such risks. Additionally, the government aims to foster safer AI applications through public-private collaboration, without compromising public privacy or exacerbating conflict and distrust.
Furthermore, Harris revealed during the meeting that should technology industry players fail to fulfill their responsibilities regarding AI or allow these technologies to adversely impact public life, they would face government intervention, implying a subtle warning.
The White House statement indicated that the U.S. government unveiled its AI Rights Act plan in October of the previous year, intending to guide technology industry players in designing, developing, and deploying AI and other automated systems to protect American citizens’ rights and safety.
The U.S. government further stated that six leading AI technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Stability AI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face, agreed to have their AI systems publicly assessed during DEFCON 31, held from August 10th to 13th, to determine compliance with the principles set forth by the Biden administration.
The United States Office of Management and Budget plans to release AI technology usage guidelines in the coming months, enabling businesses to deploy AI technologies according to specific regulations and gather more public input before finalizing relevant policies.
