The White House is bringing in the seven largest companies in artificial intelligence on Friday to make a series of voluntary promises to protect users.
The companies — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI — have all agreed to a series of requests from the White House to address the many risks posed by artificial intelligence. The promises consist of investments in cybersecurity, discrimination research, and a new watermark system to notify users when content is generated by artificial intelligence, according to theverge report.
Companies entered into these agreements voluntarily, so there are currently no consequences if they fail to keep their promises. Many of these commitments are not expected to be implemented as of Friday, but companies are expected to act on them immediately.
Contacted by reporters, a White House official said the Biden administration is currently working on an executive order to address some of the risks posed by artificial intelligence. The official declined to elaborate but said the procedures could be done through federal agencies and departments.
Over the past few months, the Biden administration has met with tech executives, workers, and civil rights leaders to discuss AI. In May, the White House announced more funding and policy guidance for companies developing AI technology, including $140 million for the National Science Foundation to launch seven new National Institutes for Artificial Intelligence Research (NAIR). Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and other companies have also agreed to let their language models be publicly evaluated at this year's Def Con.
Friday's announcement comes nearly a month after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released his plan for Congress to regulate technology without discouraging innovation.
The plan, the SAFE Framework (Security, Accountability, Foundations, and Explanation), does not make specific policy requests but calls for lawmakers to work together to create rules to deal with the potential for AI to harm national security, cause job losses, and create misinformation.
"Artificial intelligence could be our most exciting innovation yet, a force that could ignite a new era of technological advancement, scientific discovery and industrial power," Schumer said of his plan last month.
Schumer's plan also included a series of briefings to senators on technology, and next week he will host the third briefing. The first two meetings explained the technology and presented its national security risks.
Since Schumer's announcement, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have introduced legislation to regulate the technology. Some new rules limiting how the Department of Defense can use generative AI have made their way into this year's National Defense Authorization Act. Senators are expected to vote to approve the measure sometime next week, according to CNN.
For the White House Summit, representatives from all seven companies are expected to convene at the White House on Friday for the actual signing of these commitments. The White House did not say when the event would take place.