White House convenes executives from tech giants to discuss how to regulate AI

　　White House officials recently extended an invitation to U.S. technology companies to discuss regulatory issues targeting artificial intelligence with industry business leaders.

　　The meeting will be held on May 4, and the tech companies participating include executives from Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, among others. U.S. President Joe Biden said he wants tech companies to make sure their products are safe before making them available to the public.

　　Since the introduction of ChatGPT last year, it has sparked a huge social controversy. As AI's capabilities have far exceeded expectations, critics' concerns about the rapidly evolving AI technology include invasion of privacy, bias, fraud and the spreading of rumors and disinformation. Industry technology leaders have also recently been calling for vigilance against the risks posed by AI.

　　Last month, Biden already stressed the need for regulation of AI-related products, although he said it remains to be seen whether AI poses a real threat. According to Biden, social media has illustrated the harm that powerful AI technology can cause without the right protections.

　　Geoffrey Hinton, the "godfather of AI" who recently announced his departure from Google, said he fears the Internet will be flooded with fake photos, videos and text that ordinary people "can no longer distinguish between true and false.

　　In addition, Hinton also fears that "future versions" of artificial intelligence technology will pose a threat to humans because "they often learn unexpected behaviors from the vast amounts of data analyzed" and it is currently impossible to imagine how to prevent bad guys from using AI to do bad things.

　　In recent months, tech executives have publicly responded to concerns raised by AI and endorsed the idea of governments and businesses working together to strengthen regulation of AI products.

　　Google, for example, has released a document outlining "Recommendations for Regulating AI" and suggesting that "society must quickly adapt to regulation, establish laws that punish misuse of AI, and treaties between countries to ensure that AI is safe for the world and that it is consistent with human values. rules".

　　Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that all companies' products will be affected by the rapid development of AI, and that society needs to be prepared for the technology that has been introduced. He also stressed that false information, fake news and images pose a much bigger problem than people think.

　　Last month, Tesla CEO Musk said in a media interview, "I think there should be caution about artificial intelligence and some government oversight because artificial intelligence could pose a threat to the public."

　　A few days ago, Musk exposed himself to meet with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other lawmakers to discuss AI regulation. He also officially announced the upcoming launch of an AI platform called TruthGPT to understand the nature of the universe and seek truth.

　　Musk criticized the Microsoft-backed OpenAI for "training AI to lie" and accused Google co-founder Larry Page of not taking AI safety seriously.

　　Due to the recent rapid development of AI technology, governments are actively seeking regulatory measures to keep up with the pace of technological progress.

　　The U.S. government has sought public comment on potential accountability measures for AI systems. The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said last month that it wants to know if measures can be taken to ensure that AI systems are "legal, effective, ethical and safe.

　　In Europe, the latest body to join in the regulation of AI is the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), which has called on EU consumer protection agencies to focus on the potential hazards of AI for consumers.

　　Last month, the European Data Protection Board has set up a working group dedicated to ChatGPT and an important step toward developing a common policy on AI privacy rules.

　　EU lawmakers are also discussing how to introduce an EU AI bill, and generative AI (AIGC) has emerged as one of the most talked about elements. The European Commission will vote on the relevant agreement on May 11 and, if adopted, will move to the next stage of tripartite negotiations, when EU member states will debate the content of the negotiations with the European Commission and the European Parliament.