The White House announced a plan to crack down on artificial intelligence (AI) on Thursday — amid growing concerns over the advanced technology possibly replacing humanity someday — naming Vice President Kamala Harris as “AI Czar” in charge of the new initiative.
Harris, who has the lowest approval rating of any modern vice president, will lead the initiative as AI czar, with a $140 million budget, the White House said.
OpenAI founder Sam Altman, creator of ChatGPT (TechCrunch/Flickr)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 29: U.S Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks alongside U.S. President Joe Biden (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Vice President Harris and senior Administration officials will meet today with CEOs of four American companies at the forefront of AI innovation,” the Biden administration explained.
Harris is meeting with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to discuss how potential risks involving AI can be reduced.
“AI is one of the most powerful technologies of our time, but in order to seize the opportunities it presents, we must first mitigate its risks,” the Biden administration said.
The plan is to launch seven new AI research institutes, which will bring the total number of such institutes to 25 across the United States. From there, the entities will ask companies like Google, Microsoft, and ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, to “participate in a public evaluation of AI systems.”
“President Biden has been clear that when it comes to AI, we must place people and communities at the center by supporting responsible innovation that serves the public good, while protecting our society, security, and economy,” the White House said.
“Importantly, this means that companies have a fundamental responsibility to make sure their products are safe before they are deployed or made public,” the Biden administration added.
OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot, which students now use to cheat in school, has sparked a massive debate around AI, which keeps getting more and more advanced, with the ability to produce “deepfakes,” tricking people into thinking they are seeing or hearing real people.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also reportedly expressed concerns over AI becoming so advanced, that it surpasses human intelligence and begins to think independently — no longer listening to humans, and even becoming a sentient, human-hating species.
Musk was among more than 1,000 AI experts to sign an open letter calling for a six-month halt to AI development while risks are considered.
A former researcher at OpenAI who worked on the ChatGPT AI Chatbot recently claimed on a podcast that if AI reaches “human level” thinking, the human race approaches “a 50/50 chance of doom.”
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