April 27, 2024

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Secures Voluntary Commitments from Eight Additional Artificial Intelligence Companies to Manage the Risks Posed by AI

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Secures Voluntary Commitments from Eight Additional Artificial Intelligence Companies to Manage the Risks Posed by AI

Builds on commitments from seven top AI companies secured by the Biden-Harris Administration in July

Commitments are one immediate step and an important bridge to government action; Biden-Harris Administration is developing an Executive Order on AI to protect Americans’ rights and safety

Since taking office, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the entire Biden-Harris Administration have acted decisively to manage the risks and harness the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI). As the Administration moves urgently on regulatory action, it is working with leading AI companies to take steps now to advance responsible AI. In July, the Biden-Harris Administration secured voluntary commitments from seven leading AI companies to help advance the development of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI.

Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, and senior administration officials are convening additional industry leaders at the White House to announce that the Administration has secured a second round of voluntary commitments from eight companies—Adobe, Cohere, IBM, Nvidia, Palantir, Salesforce, Scale AI, and Stability—that will help drive safe, secure, and trustworthy development of AI technology.

These commitments represent an important bridge to government action, and are just one part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s comprehensive approach to seizing the promise and managing the risks of AI. The Administration is developing an Executive Order and will continue to pursue bipartisan legislation to help America lead the way in responsible AI development.

These commitments, which the companies have chosen to undertake immediately, underscore three principles that must be fundamental to the future of AI—safety, security, and trust—and mark a critical step toward developing responsible AI. As the pace of innovation continues to accelerate, the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to take decisive action to keep Americans safe and protect their rights.

Today, these eight leading AI companies commit to:

Ensuring Products are Safe Before Introducing Them to the Public

  • The companies commit to internal and external security testing of their AI systems before their release. This testing, which will be carried out in part by independent experts, guards against some of the most significant sources of AI risks, such as biosecurity and cybersecurity, as well as its broader societal effects.
  • The companies commit to sharing information across the industry and with governments, civil society, and academia on managing AI risks. This includes best practices for safety, information on attempts to circumvent safeguards, and technical collaboration.

Building Systems that Put Security First

  • The companies commit to investing in cybersecurity and insider threat safeguards to protect proprietary and unreleased model weights. These model weights are the most essential part of an AI system, and the companies agree that it is vital that the model weights be released only when intended and when security risks are considered.
  • The companies commit to facilitating third-party discovery and reporting of vulnerabilities in their AI systems. Some issues may persist even after an AI system is released and a robust reporting mechanism enables them to be found and fixed quickly.

Earning the Public’s Trust

  • The companies commit to developing robust technical mechanisms to ensure that users know when content is AI-generated, such as a watermarking system. This action enables creativity and productivity with AI to flourish but reduces the dangers of fraud and deception.
  • The companies commit to publicly reporting their AI systems’ capabilities, limitations, and areas of appropriate and inappropriate use. These reports will cover both security risks and societal risks, such as the effects on fairness and bias.
  • The companies commit to prioritizing research on the societal risks that AI systems can pose, including on avoiding harmful bias and discrimination, and protecting privacy. The track record of AI shows the potential magnitude and prevalence of these dangers, and the companies commit to rolling out AI that mitigates them.
  • The companies commit to develop and deploy advanced AI systems to help address society’s greatest challenges. From cancer prevention to mitigating climate change to so much in between, AI—if properly managed—can contribute enormously to the prosperity, equality, and security of all.

As we advance this agenda at home, the Administration continues to engage on these commitments and on AI policy with allies and partners. In developing these commitments, the Administration consulted with Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE, and the UK. These commitments complement Japan’s leadership of the G-7 Hiroshima Process, the United Kingdom’s Summit on AI Safety, and India’s leadership as Chair of the Global Partnership on AI. 

Today’s announcement is part of a broader commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure AI is developed safely and responsibly, to safeguard Americans’ rights and safety, and to protect Americans from harm and discrimination.

  • In August, the Biden-⁠Harris Administration launched a major two-year competition—the “AI Cyber Challenge”—that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to protect the United States’ most important software, such as code that helps run the internet and our critical infrastructure
  • In July, Vice President Harris convened consumer protection, labor, and civil rights leaders to discuss risks related to AI and reaffirm the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to protecting the American public from harm and discrimination.
  • In June, President Biden met with top experts and researchers in San Francisco as part of his commitment to seizing the opportunities and managing the risks posed by AI, building on the President’s ongoing engagement with leading AI experts.
  • In May, the President and Vice President convened the CEOs of four American companies at the forefront of AI innovation—Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI—to underscore their responsibility and emphasize the importance of driving responsible, trustworthy, and ethical innovation with safeguards that mitigate risks and potential harms to individuals and our society. At the companies’ request, the White House hosted a subsequent meeting focused on cybersecurity threats and best practices.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration published a landmark Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights to safeguard Americans’ rights and safety, and U.S. government agencies have ramped up their efforts to protect Americans from the risks posed by AI, including through preventing algorithmic bias in home valuation and leveraging existing enforcement authorities to protect people from unlawful bias, discrimination, and other harmful outcomes.
  • President Biden signed an Executive Order that directs federal agencies to root out bias in the design and use of new technologies, including AI, and to protect the public from algorithmic discrimination.
  • Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation announced a $140 million investment to establish seven new National AI Research Institutes, bringing the total to 25 institutions across the country.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration has also released a National AI R&D Strategic Plan to advance responsible AI.
  • The Office of Management and Budget will soon release draft policy guidance for federal agencies to ensure the development, procurement, and use of AI systems is centered around safeguarding the American people’s rights and safety.

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Official news published at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/09/12/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-secures-voluntary-commitments-from-eight-additional-artificial-intelligence-companies-to-manage-the-risks-posed-by-ai/