US Vice President Kamala Harris told CEOs of leading tech companies at a meeting Thursday that they have a "moral" responsibility to protect society from the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.
"As I shared today with CEOs of companies at the forefront of American AI innovation, the private sector has an ethical, moral, and legal responsibility to ensure the safety and security of their products," Harris said in a statement.
Thursday's meeting was opened to Google's Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Corp's Satya Nadella, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and administration officials including Biden's Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. said "Our North Star here is this idea that if we're going to seize these benefits, we have to start by managing the risks."
Ahead of the meeting, OpenAI's Altman told reporters the White House was "seriously engaged" on the issue and they "want to get it right."
"It's good to try to get ahead of this," he said when asked if the White House was moving quickly enough on AI regulation. "It's definitely going to be a challenge, but it's one I'm sure we can handle."
The administration also announced a $140 million investment from the National Science Foundation to launch seven new AI research institutes and said the White House's Office of Management and Budget would release policy guidance on the use of AI by the federal government.
United States regulators have fallen short of the tough approach European governments have taken on tech regulation and in crafting strong rules on deepfakes and misinformation that companies must follow or risk hefty fines.
"We don't see this as a race," the senior official said, adding that the administration is working closely with the U.S.-E.U. Trade & Technology Council on the issue.
In February, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate bias in their use of AI. The Biden administration has also released an AI Bill of Rights and a risk management framework.
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division also said they would use their legal authorities to fight AI-related harm.
