In Short
- Tech CEOs and US officials will discuss developments around AI.
- It is also likely that tech CEOs themselves may talk about AI regulations with the US government.
- The Biden administration had announced that it is seeking public comments on the dangers of AI and possible regulations.
By Abhik SenguptaAs generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, like ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing, continue to get mainstream, there remains a looming concern about the potential misuse and dangers of the technology. To discuss these concerns, chief executives of tech firms, including Microsoft (Satya Nadella), Google (Sundar Pichai), OpenAI (Sam Altman), and Anthropic (Dario Amodei) are expected to meet with US Vice President Kamala Harris and government officials. According to the official invitation obtained by Reuters, US President Joe Biden wants to meet CEOs to “make sure their products are safe before making them available to the public.” This comes after several notable tech entrepreneurs, including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed a letter demanding a pause in AI research for the rest of the year.
The report highlights that a meeting between US Vice President Harris and tech CEOs will take place on Thursday, May 4. The meeting will reportedly be attended by Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of the National Economic Council, Lael Brainard and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
It is also likely that tech CEOs themselves may talk about AI regulations with the US government. Following the public launch of ChatGPT late last year, the developer OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, asked for regulation. He’s reiterated this in several interviews. “We’ve got to be careful here,” Altman told ABC News in March, adding, “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this (generative AI).”
Similar concerns are shared between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Pichai, in an interview with CBS, said that AI could be “very harmful” if deployed wrongly. He had also spoken about Musk and others signing an open letter against AI in a separate interview. He said that tech companies cannot do anything to pause developments on AI unless various governments intervene.
Interestingly, Geoffrey Hinton, referred to as the “godfather of AI,” announced his departure from Google after working at the company for over a decade. Metz now wants to discuss the dangers of AI with stakeholders. He clarified that Google is working “responsibly.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced that it is seeking public comments on the dangers of AI and possible regulations. Around the same time, US President Biden said it remained to be seen whether AI is dangerous. Some countries are also banning AI tools such as ChatGPT due to privacy reasons.
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