The White House and Democrat-controlled federal government made a big effort this week to demonstrate to the public that they are taking the lead on AI regulation.
The chairwoman of the FTC, Lina M. Khan, penned an op-ed for the New York Times outlining her agency’s goals in regulating the rapidly-growing technology, giving ample space to the left-wing priority of combating “discrimination.”
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 21: FTC Commissioner nominee Lina M. Khan testifies during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee nomination hearing on April 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Nelson was a senator representing Florida from 2001-2019. (Photo by Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images)
US Vice President Kamala Harris (L) claps to US President Joe Biden as he hosts a reception to celebrate Diwali in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 24, 2022. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Via the New York Times:
Lastly, these A.I. tools are being trained on huge troves of data in ways that are largely unchecked. Because they may be fed information riddled with errors and bias, these technologies risk automating discrimination — unfairly locking out people from jobs, housing or key services. These tools can also be trained on private emails, chats and sensitive data, ultimately exposing personal details and violating user privacy. Existing laws prohibiting discrimination will apply, as will existing authorities proscribing exploitative collection or use of personal data.
Khan’s article cites a study by a left-wing academic, urging intervention in technologies that rely on datasets that reinforce “de facto segregation,” including predictive policing and crime maps.
In the study, the academic does not dispute that the data contained in crime maps is accurate, but takes objection to its prioritization of street crime over white-collar crime (the academic makes no attempt to explain how a map of white collar crime provides any utility in preventing or avoiding it — unlike street crime).
In the same week, President Joe Biden met with the leaders of Google, Microsoft, and Microsoft-backed OpenAI, creators of the ChatGPT large language model — one of the AI systems responsible for much of the hype surrounding the technology.
The two-hour meeting included Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.
Kamala Harris, the historically unpopular Vice President, also attended the meeting, and was on the same day named “AI czar” by the administration. The VP will get a $140 million budget to establish AI research institutes around the country, which will ask leading AI tech companies to “participate in a public evaluation of AI systems.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.