Yahoo Finance How the White House is moving into the action phase of its effort to regulate AI
Leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue appear ready to move in the coming weeks in efforts to regulate artificial intelligence as officials warn about the dangers of the technology.
President Biden was focused on the issue Tuesday as he convened a meeting in San Francisco that gathered voices who are pushing for a much more muscular response to AI's possible impact in the years ahead in areas from the workplace to raising children to civil rights.
"We need to manage the risks," Biden said in brief remarks Tuesday. Today's event, said a White House official, will be followed in the days ahead by "a process to rapidly develop decisive actions we can take over the coming weeks."
On Capitol Hill, additional heat on the sector could come later this week when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) unveils new details of his own AI-related plans.
A White House stance on AI that began with ‘educate us’
Back in May, the Biden administration brought the CEOs of Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and others to the White House for what it described as a conversation about AI, while also underlining its "expectation that companies like yours must make sure their products are safe before making them available to the public."
President Biden swung by that meeting and, in a short video released by the White House, warned of the "enormous danger" that the technology could pose. But he was solicitous overall—and even went so far as to say he wanted the assembled CEOs to "educate us" about the technology.
To date, actions from the White House on the issue have largely been limited to things like investments in AI research and an AI bill of rights. But the meeting this week came with the promise of stronger actions to come.
"Social media has already shown us the harm that powerful technology can do without the right safeguards in place," Biden said Tuesday. He compared the AI issue to another part of the tech sector—social media, for example— that has led to considerable tension between between political and business leaders for years now.
After his remarks, the president then turned to solicit ideas on what to do next from a host of big tech’s loudest critics.
Tristan Harris, a longtime social media critic, was one of the leaders at the table with the president. Harris, who was previously a design ethicist at Google, now studies how tech companies, he has said, "wield dangerous power over our ability to make sense of the world." Additionally, he was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma" and serves as the co-founder and executive director of the Center for Humane Technology.
Common Sense Media CEO Jim Steyer was also set to attend the meeting. He's been notable for pushing Washington to take a tougher stance toward AI. (Steyer has previously led a far-reaching campaign encouraging advertisers to boycott Facebook owner Meta.)
Others who took part in the discussion: Fei-Fei Li of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute is set to discuss the possible benefits of AI in sectors like medicine, while Khan Academy founder Sal Khan will likely discuss how AI could change education. Li, previously Google Cloud’s chief scientist of AI and machine learning, has also been vocal about the necessity of improving diversity in AI. Additionally, Stanford’s Rob Reich, who has been calling for an established code of conduct among AI developers, is expected to attend the meeting, as is UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna, an expert in gene editing and its ethical parallels to AI.
The Algorithmic Justice League’s Joy Buolamwin, an expert in algorithmic bias and its real-life effects, and Oren Etzioni, founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, were also set to meet with President Biden.
During this trip, Biden has also crossed paths with other key AI players, notably Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, who has been vocal about AI and its possibilities. The executive and his wife hosted a fundraiser for the president’s re-election campaign on Monday afternoon.
"Shannon and Kev, thank you very, very much," Biden said at the event at the couple’s home in Los Gatos, Calif., on Monday night before launching into his stump speech. The fundraiser was co-hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016 in a $26.2 billion deal.
A range of ideas from across Washington
Of course, it remains to be seen what specific actions the White House will undertake — and whether they have an impact on the fast-expanding sector. But there is movement and, apparently, urgency.
Last year, the Biden administration convened a National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee under the direction of the Commerce Department to provide recommendations on the issue. A May report from the group presented 24 ideas for action from Washington. Examples include spearheading national standards around AI risk management, retraining displaced workers, and diplomatic efforts against possible malicious AI from places like China.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a recent interview her goal was to be thoughtful about "the most complicated tech policy discussion, possibly, that we've ever had," adding that many of the threats of AI may not even be understood today.
Elsewhere in Washington, a parallel process is underway on Capitol Hill, led by Sen. Schumer. The Senate Majority Leader will deliver a speech Wednesday to unveil a plan that he hopes will become the framework for a comprehensive and bipartisan approach to the issue.
Schumer also recently announced three Senator-only briefings over the coming months to educate lawmakers on the issues around artificial intelligence. After the first briefing, Schumer described the mood on Capitol Hill as "a mix of urgency and humility; urgency because AI is developing so damn fast, and humility because AI is stupendously complex."
Schumer himself has signaled much of his focus will be on the national security implications of the technology and he is rolling out his plan at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance.
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