The White House has just announced that it accepted pledges from a number of high-profile tech companies for the safe development of AI. The Fact Sheet for today’s meeting can be found here. Seven companies — Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic and Inflection — convened at the White House today to announce the voluntary agreements. Here are President Biden’s comments after the meeting:
Here are a couple of commentaries we received from our friends in the big data ecosystem:
Commentary by Anita Schjøll Abildgaard, CEO and co-founder of Iris.ai
“With all emerging technology, the establishment of clear legal frameworks is necessary to ensure the technology is used safely and fairly. The requirement of developers to publish the authors of material used in chatbot training is an important measure for making sure that authors are accredited, and the protections against overt surveillance have obvious benefits.
More regulation is coming, and the development of AI models has a role to play. Transparency into how the models work will be crucial in promoting trust and accountability, while making sure regulation is being adhered to. Another key aspect is explainability. AI systems that provide understandable explanations for their decisions will not only enhance transparency but also help to combat the biases in some models and prevent discriminatory practices from taking place.
It is important to recognize that AI governance is a complex and evolving field. The genie is already out of the bottle, and while regulators catch up with this hugely powerful technology, organizations developing AI can help to make sure its potential is harnessed for the benefit of everyone.”
Commentary by Aaron Mendes, CEO of PrivacyHawk
“It’s nice to see big tech pledging to be responsible with AI. This move by the White House primarily helps with misinformation. Now we need more commitments to help protect consumers from the dangers of AI, particularly how their privacy can be violated, and personal data can be used for scams, fraud, and other cybercrimes. Even if they do some work on protecting consumers, it’s still important for individuals to reduce their digital footprint before it’s too late. Once malicious AI models have gobbled up all of our publicly available personal data, it’s too late to take it back.”
Commentary by Dan Schiappa, CPO of Arctic Wolf
“It is positive to see the top leaders in AI working closely to align on standards and ethical commitments at this point in the AI boom. AI development is happening at warp speed, and any amount of delay from regulators could be detrimental from a cybersecurity perspective. With the heavy emphasis on security testing and risk management in these standards, it’s safe to say that there is greenfield opportunity for cybersecurity leaders to follow suit and work hand in hand with AI leaders to accelerate innovation safely and faster than potential threats.
It is important to note that the cybersecurity industry can play an integral role in identifying efforts to circumvent these standards and I hope this will lead to a great partnership between both AI and cybersecurity industries. While we know it’s illegal to conduct cybersecurity attacks, they still continue to happen and affect organizations of all industries and sizes. So, while standards keep well-intentioned organizations in control, it will not prohibit other from using this technology without us. Nevertheless, I believe this is a step in the right direction.”
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