By Sabrina McCrear
Howard University News Service
President Joe Biden took the first national action to regulate artificial intelligence Monday afternoon by signing an executive order known as The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights to protect the public from security and safety risks.
The proposed regulations are intended to ensure the safe, secure and trustworthy usage of artificial intelligence, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said in addressing the order’s coverage and implications.
“Technology with global impact requires global action,” Vice President Harris said.
With the United States leading the development of AI, the government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from the peril of AI while also allowing them to utilize its benefits, Harris emphasized during a press conference.
“Companies must tell the government about the large-scale AI systems they’re developing and share rigorous independent test results to prove they pose no national security or safety risk to the American people,” President Biden said.
Although AI has numerous benefits, it also poses many risks. “Predictable threats such as algorithmic discrimination, data privacy violations and deep fakes” are issues that pose perilous risks to American citizens, Vice President Harris said.
The regulations stipulated in the executive order summarized privacy protection against AI-enabled fraud. They would prohibit the use of AI to analyze consumer data and call fo responsible use of AI in government, health care, labor standards, workplace equity and data collection.
“It is the furthest any country has gone in passing both rules guiding the safety and security of AI, protecting Americans from fraud and discrimination related to AI, as well as promoting use in safe ways,” Anne Neuberger, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor, Cyber and Emerging Tech, said in an interview after the press conference.
This is only the second step in the three-part initiative to regulate AI usage, Neuberger said. “The first step was the president negotiated voluntary commitments with a set of companies around things they agreed to do,” she explained.
This will serve as a bridge to new laws that will implement structures for proper usage and protect U.S. citizens from serious threats presented by AI.
The executive order is vital for the global society as AI continues to advance and develop in new ways, Biden said. This approach will allow for a safer, more secure and trustworthy AI, the president concluded.
Sabrina McCrear is a reporter for HUNewsService.com.
