President Biden said Tuesday that tech companies have a responsibility to ensure their products are safe as concerns grow about the risks that artificial intelligence poses to society.
In a meeting with science and technology advisers on the “risks and opportunities” of artificial intelligence, Mr. Biden said AI holds potential for addressing “some very difficult challenges like disease and climate change.”
But, he added, “we also have to address the potential risks to our society, to our economy, to our national security.”
When asked directly whether “AI is dangerous,” Mr. Biden said it “remains to be seen.”
“It could be,” he said, adding that tech companies have a responsibility “to make sure their products are safe before making them public.”
He said social media has shown the risks that technologies can pose without the appropriate safeguards in place, and again called on Congress to pass legislation to require companies to “put health and safety first in the products that they build.”
Several prominent technology executives, including Twitter’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Steve Wozniak, have raised alarms amid the release of several chatbots that have demonstrated stunning advances in the technology.
The execs joined other technologists in calling for a six-month pause on further developments to AI warning that human-competitive intelligence can ’pose profound risks to society and humanity.”
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.