President Biden champions AI safeguards with executive order

AI

President Joe Biden is poised to sign an executive order necessitating the development of safety and security standards and ushering in new consumer protections for AI.

According to Security Week, this move underscores the government’s intent to maximise the potential of AI while mitigating its risks. The executive order will compel leading AI developers to share safety test results and other pertinent information with the government. It also builds upon voluntary commitments previously made by tech companies and is part of a broader strategy that encompasses congressional legislation and international diplomacy.

The executive order utilises the Defense Production Act to enforce its mandates and instructs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish standards ensuring AI tools are secure prior to public release. Additionally, the Commerce Department will issue guidelines for labelling and watermarking AI-generated content to distinguish between authentic and AI-generated interactions. The order, which touches upon privacy, civil rights, and worker rights, will be implemented over a timeframe ranging from 90 to 365 days.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients shared that the president communicated a sense of urgency, stating, “We can’t move at a normal government pace. We have to move as fast, if not faster than the technology itself.”

Earlier this year, the US government unveiled the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy (NCWES), aimed at addressing immediate and long-term cyber workforce needs.

The plan seeks to transform cyber education in K-12 schools, community colleges, and technical schools, and to invest in teachers and cyber education systems. The strategy highlights the national security need to fill the hundreds of thousands of cyber job vacancies and aims to make training more accessible and affordable.

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