Biden calls on tech firms to make AI safe for society

US President’s comments come as some European countries mull ban on chatbots like ChatGPT

US President Joe Biden holds a meeting with his science and technology advisors at the White House on 4 April, 2023 in Washington, DC (Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden has warned of the potential dangers that artificial intelligence poses to society, urging tech companies to ensure their AI products are safe before releasing them to the public

Speaking to science and technology advisers on Tuesday, President Biden said that AI could help in addressing disease and climate change, but it was also important to address potential risks to society, national security and the economy.

”Tech companies have a responsibility, in my view, to make sure their products are safe before making them public,” he said at the start of a meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). When asked if AI was dangerous, he said, “It remains to be seen. It could be.”

The US president said social media had already illustrated the harm that powerful technologies can do without the right safeguards.

“Absent safeguards, we see the impact on the mental health and self-images and feelings and hopelessness, especially among young people,” he said.

He reiterated a call for Congress to pass bipartisan privacy legislation to put limits on personal data that technology companies collect, ban advertising targeted at children, and to prioritize health and safety in product development.

Shares of companies that employ AI dropped sharply before President Biden’s meeting, although the broader market was also selling off on Tuesday.

Shares of AI software company C3.ai were down 24 per cent, more than halving a four-session winning streak of nearly 40 per cent through Monday. Thailand security firm Guardforce AI fell 29 per cent, data analytics firm BigBear.ai was down 16 per cent and conversation intelligence company SoundHound AI was down 13 per cent late on Tuesday.

AI is becoming an increasingly contentious topic among regulators and policy makers.

The tech ethics group Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy has asked the US Federal Trade Commission to stop OpenAI from issuing new commercial releases of GPT-4, which has wowed and appalled users with its human-like abilities to generate written responses to requests.

Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy has urged society to pause as it considers the ramifications of AI.

Last year the Biden administration released a blueprint “Bill of Rights” to help ensure users’ rights are protected as technology companies design and develop AI systems.

In Europe, Italy has already blocked OpenAI’s ChatGPT due to privacy concerns, while Germany is also reportedly considering a ban of the AI chatbot.

“In principle, such action is also possible in Germany,” the country’s data protection chief told the Handelsblatt newspaper this week.

Additional reporting from agencies.