Biden announces commitment from tech companies on AI security

US President Joe Biden announced Friday that the commitment made by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other companies leading the development of artificial intelligence technology to comply with a series of AI security measures negotiated by his government is an important step in managing the “enormous” promise and risks posed by the technology.

Biden said his administration has obtained voluntary commitments from seven US companies to ensure their AI products are safe before launching. Some of the commitments call for third-party oversight of the operation of business AI systems, though it does not spell out who will audit the technology or hold companies accountable.

“We must be lucid and vigilant about the threats that emerging technologies may pose,” Biden declared, adding that companies have a “fundamental obligation” to ensure the security of their products.

“Social media has shown us the damage powerful technology can do without proper security measures,” Biden added. “These commitments are a promising step, but we have much more work to do together.”

The rise in commercial investment in generative AI tools capable of writing convincingly human-like text and producing new images and other media has sparked fascination among some, but also concern about its ability to mislead people and spread disinformation, among other dangers.

The four tech giants, along with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and startups Anthropic and Inflection, have committed to conducting security tests “conducted in part by independent experts” to guard against major risks, including biosecurity and cybersecurity, the White House said in a statement.