White House unveils package to curb AI risks

The White House on Thursday rolled out initiatives aimed at containing the privacy and safety hazards of artificial intelligence.

As part of those steps, the White House will announce a $140 million investment to create seven artificial intelligence research institutes. The centers will focus on using artificial intelligence to address climate change, agriculture and public health, according to a White House fact sheet.

The announcement comes on the same day Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials are scheduled to meet with the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Administration officials and tech leaders will discuss rules to develop artificial intelligence ethically and responsibly, the administration said.

Other steps include a directive to the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance in the next few months on how federal agencies should approach artificial intelligence tools. There will also be an independent commitment from top AI companies to participate in a public evaluation of their systems in August at the DEF CON convention in Las Vegas.

President Biden last month said artificial intelligence could help address disease and climate change but also could destabilize the economy and jeopardize national security.

The public release of the ChatGPT chatbot in November has led to a debate about artificial intelligence and the government’s role in policing the technology. AI can generate sophisticated prose similar to humans and lifelike fake images, raising ethical concerns.

As ChatGPT and other systems become more popular, pressure has increased on the White House to police this new system.

Once ChatGPT was released to the public, people began using it to help them with school homework and their jobs. The explosion in popularity has resulted in an AI boom, forcing tech companies to ramp up their research and incorporate chatbots into their products.