The White House threatens to rein in the world's largest AI companies

The White House is closely following developments in the field of artificial intelligence. Photo: Hasan Mrad/Zuma Press

The US government is threatening the tech giants with new laws and regulations unless they contain the rapid and dangerous rise of artificial intelligence.

The heads of leading artificial intelligence companies, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic were summoned to the White House and told that they have & #34;ethical, moral and legal responsibilities" to protect the public.

Kamala Harris led the two-hour meeting with Joe Biden Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

Mr. Biden and #34;stopped" to the meeting, and it was also revealed that he was using ChatGPT, a controversial artificial intelligence chatbot launched by OpenAI five months ago.

A White House official said: «He was briefed in detail.» on ChatGPT and experimented with it"

Another administration official said there was a «frank discussion». with heads of technology departments about «the risks that we see in the current and near-term prospects for the development of AI.» if we are going to reap these benefits, we must start with risk management"

This came just a few days after the British scientist known as the «Godfather of AI». pull out of Google over fears it could lead to killer robots that are smarter than humans. Geoffrey Hinton, 75, said «it's hard to see how you can stop bad actors from using it for bad purposes.»

In March, Elon Musk called for a six-month pause in AI research, warning that it was «getting out of hand.»

The meeting at the White House was attended by CEOs Sundar Pichai of Google and Satya Nadella of Microsoft. Subsequently, Ms. Harris said that AI has the potential to improve people's lives and solve some of society's biggest problems.

But she said, «At the same time, AI can drastically increase security threats, disrupt civilian rights and privacy and undermine public trust and faith in democracy.”

&# 34. As I told the CEOs of companies at the forefront of American AI innovation today, the private sector has an ethical, moral, and legal responsibility to keep its products safe."

AI Threats

A White House spokesman said the US is «working closely with our EU counterparts.» on AI Threat Management. The official said, «We don't see this as a race [for regulation].»

The White House has announced a $140 million (£111 million) commitment to expand AI. research, including the creation of an evaluation system that will work with the private sector to «solve problems.»

There were growing concerns in Washington that AI technologies could harm society. Risks include voice cloning for use in scams and fake videos. It could also threaten a lot of jobs.

A top US regulator said the government won't be left behind when it comes to setting rules.

Lina Khan, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said: » Can we continue to be home to the world's cutting edge technology without adopting a race to the bottom business model and monopolistic control? Yes, if we make the right policy choices"

At the White House, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said: "It's good to try to move forward with that. It will definitely be a challenge, but I think we can do it.