The Biden administration will start implementing a new requirement for the developers of major artificial intelligence systems to disclose their safety test results to the government.
The White House AI Council is scheduled to meet Monday to
review progress made on the executive order that President Joe Biden signed
three months ago to manage the fast-evolving technology.
Chief among the 90-day goals from the order was a mandate
under the Defense Production Act that AI companies share vital information with
the Commerce Department, including safety tests.
Ben Buchanan, the White House special adviser on AI, said in
an interview that the government wants “to know AI systems are safe before
they’re released to the public — the president has been very clear that
companies need to meet that bar.”
The software companies are committed to a set of categories
for the safety tests, but companies do not yet have to comply with a common
standard on the tests. The government’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology will develop a uniform framework for assessing safety, as part of
the order Biden signed in October.
AI has emerged as a leading economic and national security
consideration for the federal government, given the investments and
uncertainties caused by the launch of new AI tools such as ChatGPT that can
generate text, images and sounds. The Biden administration also is looking at
congressional legislation and working with other countries and the European
Union on rules for managing the technology.
The Commerce Department has developed a draft rule on U.S.
cloud companies that provide servers to foreign AI developers.
Nine federal agencies, including the departments of Defense,
Transportation, Treasury and Health and Human Services, have completed risk
assessments regarding AI’s use in critical national infrastructure such as the
electric grid.
The government also has scaled up the hiring of AI experts
and data scientists at federal agencies.
“We know that AI has transformative effects and potential,”
Buchanan said. “We’re not trying to upend the apple cart there, but we are
trying to make sure the regulators are prepared to manage this technology.”