'Alarmed' Biden Wants to 'Move Fast' on AI

President signs executive order aimed at guiding its development
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 30, 2023 7:53 AM CDT
Updated Oct 31, 2023 12:00 AM CDT
WH Chief of Staff: Biden Wants to Move Super Fast on AI
The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT on March 21 in Boston.   (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

This article was updated following the president's signing of the order. President Biden on Monday signed a sweeping executive order to guide the development of artificial intelligence, requiring the industry to develop safety and security standards, introducing new consumer protections, and giving federal agencies an extensive to-do list to oversee the rapidly progressing technology, the AP reports. The order reflects the government's effort to shape how AI evolves in a way that can maximize its possibilities and contain its perils, per the AP. AI has been a source of deep personal interest for Biden, with its potential to affect the economy and national security. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients recalled Biden giving his staff a directive to move with urgency on the issue, having considered the technology a top priority.

"We can't move at a normal government pace," Zients said the Democratic president told him. "We have to move as fast, if not faster than the technology itself." In Biden's view, the government was late to address the risks of social media, and now US youth are grappling with related mental-health issues. AI has the positive ability to accelerate cancer research, model the impacts of climate change, boost economic output, and improve government services, among other benefits. But it could also warp basic notions of truth with false images, deepen racial and social inequalities, and provide a tool to scammers and criminals. The order builds on voluntary commitments already made by technology companies.

It's part of a broader strategy that administration officials say also includes congressional legislation and international diplomacy, a sign of the disruptions already caused by the introduction of new AI tools such as ChatGPT that can generate new text, images, and sounds. Using the Defense Production Act, the order will require leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is to create standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release. The Department of Commerce is to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate between authentic interactions and those generated by software. The order also touches on matters of privacy, civil rights, consumer protections, scientific research, and worker rights.

story continues below

Last Thursday, Biden gathered his aides in the Oval Office to review and finalize the executive order. "He was as impressed and alarmed as anyone," deputy White House chief of staff Bruce Reed said. "He saw fake AI images of himself, of his dog. He saw how it can make bad poetry. And he's seen and heard the incredible and terrifying technology of voice cloning, which can take three seconds of your voice and turn it into an entire fake conversation." An administration official who previewed the order on a Sunday call with reporters said the to-do lists within the order will be implemented and fulfilled over the range of 90 days to 365 days, with the safety and security items facing the earliest deadlines.

(More artificial intelligence stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X