The White House has announced additional funding and policy guidelines for developing responsible artificial intelligent ahead of the Biden Administration meeting with top executives in the industry.
A $140 million National Science Foundation investment will be used to establish seven new National AI Research Institutes (NAIR), bringing the total number AI-dedicated institutions to 25 across the country. Google, Microsoft Nvidia OpenAI, and other companies also agreed to let their language models be evaluated publicly during this year’s Def Con. The Office of Management and Budget announced that it will also publish draft rules for the federal government’s use of AI technology this summer.
The press release from the administration stated that “These steps build upon the Administration’s record of strong leadership in ensuring technology improves the American people’s lives, and break ground in the ongoing federal government effort to advance an integrated and comprehensive approach to AI related risks and opportunities.” The press release does not go into detail about what will be included in the Def Con assessment, but it says that “thousands of community partners and AI specialists will have the opportunity to evaluate these models thoroughly.”
The announcement comes before a meeting at the White House on Thursday, which will be led by Vice-President Kamala Harris and include Alphabet, Anthropic Microsoft, OpenAI, and other chief executives to discuss AI risks. The Thursday release stated that the meeting was part of an ongoing, broader effort to engage advocates, companies and researchers, civil right organizations, non-profit organizations, local communities, international partners and others about critical AI issues.
The Biden administration took its first steps to regulate AI in October by releasing a plan for an “AI Bill of Rights.” This project was designed to be a framework to encourage the use of AI technology by the public and private sector, while encouraging anti-discrimination.
In the past few weeks, federal regulators and Congress announced that AI would be a focus of their attention. In April, the Federal Trade Commission , Consumer Federal Protection Bureau , Justice Department , and Employment Opportunity Commission released a joint alert , arguing that they had already been given authority to take action against companies whose AI-based products are harmful to users.
Last week , Elon Musk and House Majority leader Chuck Schumer (DNY) met to discuss AI regulations.
