Feb. 22 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department has appointed its first chief artificial intelligence officer amid rising concerns about the ethics of AI.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced the appointment of Jonathan Mayer as chief science and technology adviser and chief AI officer, a designation that will help the Justice Department “keep pace with rapidly evolving scientific and technological developments.”
“Jonathan’s expertise will be invaluable in ensuring that the entire Justice Department — including our law enforcement components, litigating components, grant-making entities and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices — is prepared for both the challenges and opportunities that new technologies present,” Garland said in a statement.
Mayer, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School, will advise the Justice Department on matters such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and recruiting technical expertise to bolster the department’s technological capabilities.
Mayer joins the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, which is developing a team of technical and policy experts to address issues surrounding cybersecurity and AI.
His appointment comes amid rising concerns among policy makers and technology experts about the unregulated potential of AI. Some 300 experts in various fields on Wednesday issued an open letter calling on governments to crack down on deepfake content, which they said often contains misinformation, sexual content and fraud.
Deepfakes are AI-generated media that can mimic real human voices, images and videos.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office earlier this month found a Texas-based outfit spammed New Hampshire voters with AI-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice and urging Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary.
“AI-generated recordings used to deceive voters have the potential to have devastating effects on the democratic election process,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said when the investigation was released.
Twenty of the world’s leading technology companies, including Google, Meta and OpenAI, earlier this month signed an accord to fight AI-generated misinformation during the 2024 election year.
“The rapid development of artificial intelligence, or AI, is creating new opportunities as well as challenges for the democratic process. All of society will have to lean into the opportunities afforded by AI and to take new steps together to protect elections and the electoral process during this exceptional year,” the accord read.
