Tag: ceo’s
Vice President Harris tells tech CEOs they have a moral responsibility to safeguard AI
The Biden administration may be funding AI research, but it’s also hoping to keep companies accountable for their behavior. Vice President Kamala Harris has met the CEOs of Alphabet (Google’s parent), Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic in a bid to get more safeguards for AI. Private firms have an “ethical, moral and legal responsibility” to make their AI products safe and secure, Harris says in a statement. She adds that they still have to honor current laws.
The Vice President casts generative AI technologies like Bard, Bing Chat and ChatGPT as having the potential to both help and harm the country. It can address some of the “biggest challenges,” but it can also be used to violate rights, create distrust and weaken “faith in democracy,” according to Harris. She pointed to investigations into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election as evidence that hostile nations will use tech to undercut democratic processes.
Finer details of the discussions aren’t available as of this writing. However, Bloombergclaims invitations to the meeting outlined discussions of the risks of AI development, efforts to limit those risks and other ways the government could cooperate with the private sector to safely embrace AI.
Generative AI has been helpful for detailed search answers, producing art and even writing messages for job hunters. Accuracy remains a problem, however, and there are concerns about cheating, copyright violations and job automation. IBM said this week it would pause hiring for roles that could eventually be replaced with AI. There’s been enough worry about AI’s dangers that industry leaders and experts have called for a six-month pause on experiments to address ethical issues.
Biden’s officials aren’t waiting for companies to act. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is asking for public comments on possible rules for AI development. Even so, the Harris meeting sends a not-so-subtle message that AI creators face a crackdown if they don’t act responsibly.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vice-president-harris-tells-tech-ceos-they-have-a-moral-responsibility-to-safeguard-ai-211049047.html?src=rss
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3 tips for CEOs planning to take parental leave
My company just had its best quarter ever. As its founder and CEO, I am proud to say that I wasn’t there for most of it.
3 tips for CEOs planning to take parental leave by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch
TechCrunch+ roundup: M&A red flags, handling problematic CEOs, E-1 visa questions
Early-stage investors don’t closely manage the founders they shower with cash, even when things go off the rails.
TechCrunch+ roundup: M&A red flags, handling problematic CEOs, E-1 visa questions by Walter Thompson originally published on TechCrunch
House panel subpoenas the CEOs from tech’s biggest companies over content moderation
Now that Republicans control the House of Representatives, they’re preparing to grill technology giants over accusations of content censorship. The Wall Street Journal has learned that House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has subpoenaed the CEOs of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft for information on their content moderation methods. The leaders have until March 23rd to provide any communications between them and the federal government’s executive branch on the subject.
Jordan’s panel wants to know “how and to what extent” the federal government allegedly pressured and coordinated with companies to censor content. The requests include details about people responsible for shaping moderation policies as well as those who’ve talked to the executive branch. Like numerous Republican politicians, Jordan has long maintained that major tech companies censor conservative views under the guise of curbing hate speech and misinformation.
The representative notably didn’t subpoena Twitter, which he likely feels is more supportive of right-wing views with Elon Musk at the helm. The social network recently reinstated Donald Trump’s account (still inactive), and has been sharing internal “Twitter Files” that covered the company’s sharing limits on a New York Post story on Hunter Biden as well as the decision to ban Trump following the January 6th, 2021 attack on the Capitol. While right-wing figures have portrayed the disclosure as proof of anti-conservative censorship, critics have argued the documents don’t offer substantially new details, don’t provide evidence of conspiracy and were given only to writers likely to share Musk’s views.
We’ve asked the five companies for comment. Microsoft confirmed the request in a statement to Engadget, noting that it’s providing documents and plans to work in “good faith” with the committee. The firms have repeatedly denied allegations of bias and insist that they’re only trying to remove falsehoods and other harmful material.
Whether or not the House panel can take action is another matter. Attempts to prove an anti-conservative bias have failed so far, with multiplestudies showing no evidence of these leanings. There’s also evidence that platforms like Facebook made exemptions for right-wing content that violated misinformation policies, fearing a backlash if they enforced their rules consistently.