On Monday, President Joe Biden is set to sign a comprehensive executive order aimed at guiding the development of artificial intelligence. This order mandates the industry to establish safety and security standards, introduces new consumer protections, and assigns an extensive list of tasks to federal agencies for overseeing this rapidly advancing technology.
The government’s efforts to shape the evolution of AI in a way that maximizes its potential and mitigates its risks are reflected in this order. AI has been a subject of great personal interest for Biden due to its potential impact on the economy and national security.
Jeff Zients, the White House Chief of Staff, remembers Biden urging his staff to act urgently on this issue, considering the technology a top priority. “We can’t move at a normal government pace,” Biden told him. “We have to move as fast, if not faster than the technology itself.”
Biden believes that the government was late in addressing the risks of social media, which has now led to U.S. youth grappling with related mental health issues. AI has the potential to accelerate cancer research, model climate change impacts, boost economic output, improve government services, and more. However, it also has the potential to distort basic truths with false images, exacerbate racial and social inequalities, and serve as a tool for scammers and criminals.
The order builds upon voluntary commitments already made by tech companies. It is part of a broader strategy that includes congressional legislation and international diplomacy, reflecting the disruptions already caused by new AI tools like ChatGPT that can generate new text, images, and sounds.
The order will use the Defense Production Act to require leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is tasked with creating standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release.
The Commerce Department is directed to issue guidance for labeling and watermarking AI-generated content to help distinguish between authentic interactions and those generated by software. The order also addresses privacy, civil rights, consumer protections, scientific research, and worker rights.
An administration official stated that the tasks within the order will be implemented over a period ranging from 90 days to 365 days, with safety and security items facing the earliest deadlines.
Last Thursday, despite other pressing matters including a mass shooting in Maine, the Israel-Hamas war, and the selection of a new House Speaker, Biden spent 70 minutes in a meeting scheduled for 30 minutes in the Oval Office reviewing and finalizing the executive order.
Biden showed profound curiosity about the technology in several meetings leading up to drafting the order. His science advisory council focused on AI at two meetings and his Cabinet discussed it at two meetings. He also questioned tech executives and civil society advocates about the technology’s capabilities at multiple gatherings.
“He was as impressed and alarmed as anyone,” said Bruce Reed, deputy White House chief of staff. “He saw fake AI images of himself, of his dog. He saw how it can make bad poetry. And he’s seen and heard the incredible and terrifying technology of voice cloning, which can take three seconds of your voice and turn it into an entire fake conversation.”
The possibility of false images and sounds led Biden to prioritize labeling and watermarking anything produced by AI. Biden also wanted to prevent older Americans from receiving phone calls from someone who sounded like a loved one but turned out to be a scammer.
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