Technology companies have a responsibility to ensure that their products are protected against artificial intelligence exploitation before they are launched on the market, President Joe Biden said Tuesday in his meeting with an advisory group composed of scientists and engineers.
Biden spoke with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology regarding the opportunities and risks of AI to national security, the economy and the public.
“AI can help deal with some very difficult challenges like disease and climate change, but we also have to address the potential risks to our society, to our economy, to our national security,” he told the council.
He mentioned the increasing adverse effects of inadequate safeguards on technologies such as social media, citing mental health implications especially on young people.
Biden highlighted actions taken by the government, including proposing a bill of rights to ensure early-stage security incorporation into AI platforms. He also reminded the council of his administration’s recommended bipartisan legislation to limit tech companies’ access to personal consumer data.
PCAST was founded in 2001 to make policy recommendations on science, technology and innovation. It currently has 27 members and three co-chairs: Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Wash100 awardee; Maria Zuber, vice president for research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Frances Arnold, Linus Pauling professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering and biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology.
All three officials were present at the meeting.