Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

July 21, 2023

I'm the AI. [*Laughter*] If any of you think I'm Abe Lincoln, blame it on the AI.

First of all, thanks. Thanks for coming. And I want to thank my colleagues here for taking the time to come back again and again as we try to deal with theâwe've joined by leaders of seven American companies who are driving innovation in artificial intelligence. And it is astounding.

Artificial intelligence orâit promises an enormousâan enormousâpromise of both risk to our society and our economy and our national security, but also incredible opportunitiesâ incredible opportunities.

Just 2 months ago, Kamala and I met with these leadersâmost of them are here againâto underscore the responsibility in making sure that products that they are producing are safe and making them publicâwhat they are and what they aren't. Since then, I've met with some of America's top minds in technology to hear the range of perspectives and possibilities and risk of AI.

Kamala can't be here because she's traveling to Florida, but she's met with civil society leaders to hear their concerns about the impacts on society and ways to protect the rights of Americans.

Over the past year, my administration has taken action to guide responsible innovation. Last October, we introduced the first-of-its-kind AI Bill of Rights. In February, I signed an Executive order to direct agencies to protect the public from algorithms that discriminate. In May, we unveiled a new strategy to establish seven new AI research institutes to help drive breakthroughs in responsible AI innovention [innovation; White House correction].

And today I'm pleased to announce that these seven companies have agreed to voluntary commitments for responsible innovation. These commitments, which the companies will implement immediately, underscore three fundamental principles: safety, security, and trust.

First, the companies have an obligation to make sure their technology is safe before releasing it to the public. That means testing the capabilities of their systems, assessing their potential risk, and making the results of these assessments public.

Second, companies must prioritize the security of their systems by safeguarding their models against cyber threats and managing the risks to our national security and sharing the best practices and industry standards that are necessary.

Third, the companies have a duty to earn the people's trust and empower users to make informed decisions: labeling content that has been altered or AI-generated, rooting out bias and discrimination, strengthening privacy protections, and shielding children from harm.

And finally, companies have agreed to find ways for AI to help meet society's greatest challengesâfrom cancer to climate changeâand invest in education and new jobs to help students and workers prosper from the opportunities, and there are enormous opportunities of AI.

These commitments are real, and they're concrete. They're going to help fulfillâthe industry fulfill its fundamental obligation to Americans to develop safe, secure, and trustworthy technologies that benefit society and uphold our values and our shared values.

Let me close with this. We'll see more technology change in the next 10 years, or even in the next few years, than we've seen in the last 50 years. That has been an astounding revelation to me, quite frankly. Artificial intelligence is going to transform the lives of people around the world.

The group here will be critical in shepherding that innovation with responsibility and safety by design to earn the trust of Americans. And quite frankly, as I met with world leaders, allââ all ourâall the Gâ7 is focusing on the same thing.

Social media has shown us the harm that powerful technology can do without the right safeguards in place. And I've said at the State of the Union that Congress needs to pass bipartisan legislation to impose strict limits on personal data collection, ban targeted advertisements to kids, require companies to put health and safety first.

But we must be clear eyed and vigilant about the threats emergingâof emerging technologies that can poseâdon't have to, but can poseâto our democracy and our values. Americans are seeing how advanced artificial intelligence and the pace of innovation have the power to disrupt jobs and industries.

These commitments are a promising step, but theâwe have a lot more work to do together. Realizing the promise of AI by managing the risk is going to require some new laws, regulations, and oversight.

In the weeks ahead, I'm going to continue to take executive action to help America lead the way toward responsible innovation. And we're going to work with both parties to develop appropriate legislation and regulation. I'm pleased that Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries and others in the Congress are making this a top bipartisan priority.

As we advance the agenda here at home, we'll lead the work withâwe'll lead work with our allies and partners on a common international framework to govern the development of AI.

I think these leaders andâI thank these leaders that are in the room with me todayââ [*At this point, the President cleared his throat*.]

ââand their partnershipâexcuse meâand their commitments that they're making. This is a serious responsibility, and we have to get it right. And there's enormous, enormous potential upside as well.

So I want to thank you all. And they're about to go down to a meeting, which I'll catch up with them later.

So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Q. Mr. President, can you tell us about the hacking of Cabinet officials by China and the threshold of concern you have about that sir?

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:18 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Bradford L. Smith, vice chair and president, Microsoft Corp.; Kent Walker, president of global affairs, Google Inc.; Dario Amodei, chief executive officer, Anthropic, PBC; Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive officer and cofounder, Inflection AI; Nicholas W.P. Clegg, president of global affairs, Meta; Greg Brockman, president and cofounder, OpenAI; Adam N. Selipsky, chief executive officer, Amazon Web Services; and Vice President Kamala D. Harris.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Artificial intelligence. Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Amodei, Dario; Brockman, Greg; Clegg, Nicholas W.P.; Harris, Kamala D.; Jefferies, Hakeem S.; Schumer, Charles E.; Selipsky, Adam N.; Smith, Bradford L.; Suleyan, Mustafa"; Walker, Kent.

Subjects: Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies; Bipartisanship; Broadband and wireless technologies; Cancer research, prevention, and treatment; Climate change; Consumer data security, strengthening efforts; Cybersecurity, strengthening efforts; Education, global competitiveness; Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; House minority leader ; Job creation and growth; Senate majority leader; Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300641.