Highlighting the importance of safety in artificial intelligence (AI) products, US President Joe Biden has met with the CEOs of top AI giants such as Microsoft and Alphabet-owned Google, media reports said. In a two-hour meeting, Biden met with Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Google's Sundar Pichai, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, along with US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden, who has used OpenAI's viral AI chatbot ChatGPT and experimented with it, told the officials they must mitigate current and potential risks AI poses to individuals, society and national security, the White House said, according to a report by news agency Reuters.
The report quoted Harris saying in a statement the technology has the potential to improve lives but could pose safety, privacy and civil rights concerns. She told the chief executives they have a "legal responsibility" to ensure the safety of their artificial intelligence products and that the administration is open to advancing new regulations and supporting new legislation on artificial intelligence.
The growing popularity of generative AI, driven by ChatGPT has given way to companies to launch their own versions. Millions of users are utilising these AI tools for tasks such as writing screenplays, debugging software and medical diagnoses that has further given way to concerns of privacy violations, and the potential for scams.
It is known that AI is not without flaws and recently OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed firm behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, said it would offer up to $20,000 to users reporting vulnerabilities in its artificial intelligence systems. OpenAI Bug Bounty programme, which went live on Tuesday, will offer rewards to people based on the severity of the bugs they report, with rewards starting from $200 per vulnerability.
The programme does not include incorrect or malicious content produced by OpenAI systems.
The move comes days after ChatGPT was banned in Italy for a suspected breach of privacy rules, prompting regulators in other European countries to study generative AI services more closely. In response, OpenAI said it will address security concerns raised by Italy's data watchdog and the ban that has been imposed on the chatbot.