ChatGPT At Risk? Team Biden Weighs AI Tool Regulations Over Potential Harm, Discrimination

The Joe Biden administration is considering regulating AI tools like ChatGPT over concerns of potential harm and discrimination.

What Happened: The Commerce Department on Tuesday asked the public for comments on what it described as accountability measures, including whether the new AI models should go through a certification process before they are released, reported The Wall Street Journal.

"We know that we need to put some guardrails in place to make sure that they are being used responsibly," said Alan Davidson who serves as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency of the Commerce Department.

Comments will be accepted over the next 60 days and will be used to generate advice to U.S. policymakers about how to approach AI, according to Davidson.

Davidson reportedly said that his agency's mandate revolves around advising the president on tech policy instead of writing or enforcing regulations.

See Also: Congress Wants To Regulate Artificial Intelligence — And It’s Using A Bill Written By ChatGPT

Why It Matters: Biden discussed AI with an advisory council of scientists at the White House last week. He was asked by a reporter if the technology was dangerous and said that it "remains to be seen," reported the Journal.

In March, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak, and 1000+ signatories called for a pause on training systems exceeding OpenAI's GPT-4.

Musk, who founded OpenAI, said back in 2020 that AI needs to be better regulated. He has also pointed out in the past that the technology was more "dangerous than nukes."

The letter called on  "all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4" until safety protocols are established and evaluated.

On the other hand, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that "asking one particular group to pause solves the challenges."

Last month, Italy became the first Western nation to ban ChatGPT due to concerns surrounding privacy issues.

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