According to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, the White House announced a new executive order addressing AI regulation.
Per Mashable, the Biden administration went ahead with the executive order without waiting for Congress to approve its own legislation. The order adds to the Biden-Harris blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights in addition to the partnerships between the government and 15 leading tech companies to ensure safe and responsible AI development.
Under the new executive order, developers of powerful AI systems (e.g., OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft) must provide the results of their safety tests to the federal government before they are released to the public.
One senior administration official, however, noted that the order is centered on future generations of AI models rather than current ones, such as Chat CPT.
“[The threshold] is not going to catch AI systems trained by graduate students or even professors. This is really catching the most powerful systems in the world," an official said.
The executive order will also call for red-team testing to be held under the National Institute of Standards and Technology standards. Meanwhile, Homeland Security and the Departments of Energy will also work together to decide whether AI systems pose certain risks regarding cybersecurity and the nation’s chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear infrastructure.
Moreover, new standards for "biosynthesis screening" are currently under development to protect against "dangerous biological materials" engineered by AI. Meanwhile, The Department of Commerce will work to ensure that AI-generated content — audio, imagery, video, and text — is watermarked in combating content made by deepfakes.
The AI Cyber Challenge, a Biden administration initiative, will continue to be built on, such as launching a high-level cybersecurity program that fortifies the security of AI tools.
The Biden administration also calls on Congress to pass "bipartisan data privacy legislation" that Americans' privacy, especially children’s privacy, is protected while the biggest AI developers train their models.
The White House will assess how agencies and third-party data brokers collect and use "commercially available" information, such as public datasets. Additionally, the government will work on introducing practices to address discrimination in AI algorithms and addressing the usage of AI in sentencing concerning the criminal justice system.
As of Monday, the ai.gov site has a portal for applicants desiring AI fellowships and job opportunities in the nation’s government. The executive order will also update visa criteria for immigrants with knowledge of AI.
Lastly, the Biden administration will assist the collective bargaining influence of employees by developing principles. Under principles and practices, workers will also be protected against possible harms like surveillance, job replacement, and discrimination.
Under the order, plans were announced to issue a report on AI's potential for disrupting labor markets.
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Video Courtesy: ABC News via YouTube
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
