The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has reportedly asked the CEOs of OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to join other tech leaders on a federal AI safety panel.
The U.S. government is asking leading artificial intelligence companies for advice on how to use AI they are creating to defend airlines, utilities, and other infrastructure from AI attacks, according to a report by CNN.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, attends a press event to announce Google as the new official partner of the Women’s National Team at Google Berlin. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa (Photo by Christoph Soeder/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shows his fist ( Stephen Brashear /Getty)
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have reportedly been asked to join the panel on AI safety, as well as the head of aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman and Delta Air Lines.
The CEOs of Amazon Web Services, IBM, Cisco, chipmaker AMD, and AI developer Anthropic have also been asked to join the federal panel, as well as the leaders of the organization Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
These people will reportedly be expected to make suggestions to telecommunications companies, pipeline operators, electric utilities, and other sectors about how they can “responsibly” use artificial intelligence, as well as how to prepare for “AI-related disruptions,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
The 22-member AI Safety and Security Board will also include federal, state, and local government officials, as well as China-born computer scientist Fei-Fei Li, a professor at Stanford University and co-director of the university’s Human-Centered AI Institute.
“Artificial intelligence is a transformative technology that can advance our national interests in unprecedented ways,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “At the same time, it presents real risks — risks that we can mitigate by adopting best practices and taking other studied, concrete actions.”
“It is a risk that is real,” Mayorkas added of artificial intelligence during a press briefing on Friday. “We are seeing adverse nation-states engaged and we work to counter their efforts to unduly influence our elections.”
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