Biden to discuss dangers of AI in San Francisco meeting with experts

The U.S. president will meet with AI experts to discuss safety, policy and opportunities while he’s in San Francisco.

United States President Joe Biden will discuss artificial intelligence (AI) with a group of Silicon Valley experts on June 20 between campaign fundraising stops in California. 

The president will meet with at least eight experts, including renowned researchers and experts in AI safety. According to the White House, the topic of discussion will be the Biden administration’s “commitment to seizing the opportunities and managing the risks of Artificial Intelligence.”

Per a report from The Associated Press, the attendee list includes Jim Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media; Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology; Fei-Fei Li, co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI institute; Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League; and Sal Khan, founder of the Khan Institute.

Related: US vice president gathers top tech CEOs to discuss dangers of AI

This group is noteworthy for its individual members’ efforts in education, policy, safety and harm mitigation. Previous meetings with White House officials have included CEOs from some of the largest companies in the global AI sector — including meetings with representatives from Google, Microsoft and Anthropic.

Biden will meet with the experts at 4:00 pm Pacific Standard Time on June 20, during a series of discussions the president is participating in at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The event will be streamed on the official White House YouTube channel.

The U.S. Senate recently met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, IBM chief privacy and trust officer Christina Montgomery and New York University’s Gary Marcus in a hearing to discuss AI policy.

During his testimony, Altman expressed his belief that the U.S. government should establish a federal regulatory body to provide oversight, licensing and accountability for the burgeoning AI sector. While Marcus agreed with the notion, IBM’s Montgomery dissented, stating that it was her company’s view that Congress should take a more surgical approach to AI governance.

The discussions surrounding AI come at a time when the U.S. government has yet to set a comprehensive strategy for legislating AI development and production.

While Europe, China and the United Kingdom have either passed or are currently weighing bills featuring overarching legislation packages for the AI sector, the U.S. still lags behind in both comprehensive cryptocurrency and AI regulations.

Untangling the two sectors is becoming increasingly difficult, as AI now underpins many cryptocurrency, blockchain and Web3 industries.

Related: AI has a ‘symbiotic relationship’ with blockchain: Animoca Brands CEO