Eight tech companies, including Salesforce, IBM, Nvidia and Stable Diffusion have joined the White House’s voluntary Artificial Intelligence (AI) pledge, which aims to mitigate the risks of AI.
The pledge includes commitments to develop technology to identify AI-generated images and share data about safety with the government and academics. The new participants in the pledge include IBM, data-mining company Palantir, and Stability, the maker of text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion. These companies join 15 other major US tech firms, including Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI, in signing the pledge. The White House’s AI pledge is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to address the potential risks of AI, such as bias, discrimination, and privacy violations. The administration is also working on an AI executive order and supporting efforts in Congress to pass AI legislation.
The meeting between the White House and the tech companies comes a day before Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer is scheduled to meet with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and other technologists and civil liberties advocates to discuss the Senate’s plans to regulate AI. Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, said that the president is committed to “harnessing the benefits of AI, managing the risks, and moving fast.” He added that the administration is “partnering with the private sector and pulling every lever we have to get this done.” The AI pledge is a voluntary commitment, but it is seen as an important step in ensuring that AI is developed and used responsibly.
The commitments will apply to the next system released by each of the companies, and they will be monitored by the White House and other stakeholders. The participation of new companies in the pledge is a positive sign that the tech industry is taking the issue of AI risk seriously. It remains to be seen whether the pledge will be effective in mitigating the risks of AI, but it is a step in the right direction.
In addition to the commitments mentioned in the article, the AI pledge also includes commitments to:
- Develop and use AI to address social and environmental challenges.
- Promote diversity and inclusion in the AI workforce.
- Protect the privacy of individuals using AI systems.
The AI pledge is a significant step forward in the effort to ensure that AI is developed and used responsibly. It is important to continue to monitor the implementation of the pledge and to make adjustments as needed.
