Google and Microsoft chiefs met US vice president Kamala Harris on Thursday to discuss the risks of artificial intelligence after ramped-up warnings of its dangers hit headlines this week.
Sam Altman, boss of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, who also attended, said that the groups were “surprisingly on the same page on what needs to happen”.
Following warnings about the technology falling into the hands of “bad actors” by ex-Google AI expert Geoffrey Hinton and Microsoft chief economist Michael Schwarz this week, bosses of the firms were told they had an “ethical, moral, and legal responsibility” to ensure safety.
Joe Biden added: “What you’re doing has enormous potential and enormous danger,” in a brief appearance at the meeting.
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most powerful tools of our time, but to seize its opportunities, we must first mitigate its risks.
Today, I dropped by a meeting with AI leaders to touch on the importance of innovating responsibly and protecting people's rights and safety. pic.twitter.com/VEJjBrhCTW
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 4, 2023
Attendees Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, chief executives of Google and Microsoft, alongside Dario Amodei and Altman from big-tech backed Anthropic and OpenAI, were also warned of increased regulation on AI development in the US.
The White House said officials and CEOs "agreed that more work is needed to develop and ensure appropriate safeguards and protections, and CEOs committed to continue engaging with the Administration to ensure the American people are able to benefit from AI innovation".
There was also a "frank and constructive discussion" on three important areas: transparency from companies; the importance of being able to evaluate, verify, and validate the safety, security, and efficacy of AI systems; and the need to ensure AI systems are secure from malicious actors and attacks.
It comes as Microsoft’s move to incorporate AI into its Bing search engine prompted a flurried response by developers, which Google could well be failing to deliver, according to leaked papers from engineer Luke Sernau.