WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday while it is not yet clear AI (artificial intelligence) is harmful, however, emphasized that tech companies were responsible for ensuring that their products were safe prior to making them public.
Biden, while speaking to science and tech advisers, said that AI could aid in controlling climate change and disease, but it was also of significance to control possible risks to national security, society, as well as the economy.
Biden was speaking at the beginning of a meeting of the PCAST (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Responding to a query whether AI was dangerous, the US president said that it remains to be seen as added that it could be.
Biden further said that social media use had already shown the damage that powerful technologies could do sans correct safeguards. He mentioned mental health as being affected by social media.
He once again called for Congress to pass bipartisan privacy legislation to restrictions on personal data that tech companies collect, ban advertising that targets children, and prioritize safety and health in product development.
Prior to Biden’s meeting, shares of companies that employ AI dropped sharply before Biden’s meeting.
AI is becoming a major concern for policymakers
The technology ethics organization Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy has asked the American Federal Trade Commission to stop OpenAI from issuing GPT-4’s new commercial releases.
GPT-4 has both wowed and appalled users with its human-like abilities to generate written responses to requests.
