Emily MartinezUnited States President Joe Biden Raises Alarm Over AI’s Potential Dangers
The ominous potential of artificial intelligence (AI) has not escaped the attention of United States President Joe Biden, who has now raised a cautionary flag on the technology’s future implications. While speaking before science and technology advisers, Biden acknowledged that AI “could be” dangerous, emphasizing the importance of technology companies ensuring the safety of their products before releasing them to the public.
During a meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, President Biden articulated his concerns. He asserted that tech companies bear a responsibility to guarantee the safety of their products, a sentiment underscored by the fact that technology’s progress must not come at the cost of societal well-being.
When asked whether AI posed a danger, President Biden responded that it “remains to be seen,” but the potential for peril looms on the horizon. Biden’s perspective on AI’s dual nature reflects the technology’s capacity to both address challenges such as disease and climate change while also harboring possible risks to society, the economy, and national security.
Biden cited the adverse effects of social media on young people’s mental health as an illustrative example of the harm that can be inflicted by new technologies lacking proper safeguards. The president’s comments come amid a mounting discourse on how to regulate AI, with prominent voices advocating for a pause in the technology’s development until safeguards can be firmly established.
Last month, tech leaders, including Tesla founder Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, issued an open letter calling for a halt in AI’s rollout due to its “profound risks to society and humanity.” This call to action followed the release of GPT-4, the successor to the revolutionary AI chatbot ChatGPT.
The California-based creator of GPT-4, OpenAI, heralded the newer platform’s “human-level performance” in select areas, boasting its ability to outperform human applicants in the bar exam. However, AI’s unchecked progress prompted Italy, in a groundbreaking move, to ban ChatGPT. The country’s data protection watchdog expressed concern about the “no legal basis” for the mass collection of data associated with the chatbot.
As AI’s trajectory remains uncertain, President Biden’s words cast a spotlight on the delicate balance between technological advancement and societal safety. The evolving conversation around AI’s potential dangers calls for a comprehensive examination of the safeguards necessary to navigate this uncharted territory.
Michelle Thompson
