Google has signed onto the White House's voluntary AI commitments, agreeing to prioritize safety, security, and trust as it develops AI systems. The commitment also means that Google will work to develop AI solutions to tackle challenges like detecting and preventing cancer, mitigating climate change, and guarding against cyber threats.
In a blog post, Google said it partnered with government and industry leaders to host a forum on Oct. 17 to discuss AI and security. During the forum, Google leaders discussed the company's new report, "Building a Secure Foundation for American Leadership in AI," which highlights the importance of mitigating potential cyber threats before attacks take place.
"To build on the momentum of the AI commitments, Google is partnering with the U.S. government and other industry leaders to deploy new technologies while ensuring that they are protected from security issues," wrote Google Public Sector CEO Karen Dahut and Google Cloud VP and Chief Information Security Officer Phil Venables in the blog post. They believe that AI advancements will lead to "the biggest technological shift we will see in our lifetimes."
The White House called its voluntary AI commitments "an important first step" toward ensuring that companies developing AI do so in a way that protects the American public, economy, and national security. The three "fundamental" principles that should underscore the ongoing development of AI, according to the White House, are safety, security, and trust.
To ensure their AI products are safe, the White House is asking tech companies to subject their products to external testing, assess their potential risks, and make the results of those assessments available to the public. In terms of security, the White House asks industry leaders to protect their products from cyber threats and share best practices to reduce risks and prevent misuse. To maintain the public's trust, the White House's commitments outline several standards, including ensuring that people can easily understand whether content is original or has been altered by AI, guaranteeing that AI does not promote discrimination, building strong privacy protections, and guarding children from harm.
The goal of developing AI systems that "help meet society’s greatest challenges," including mitigating climate change, detecting and preventing cancer, and tackling cyber threats, was emphasized by the White House. Companies that signed onto the White House's commitments also agree to support student and worker education that will help individuals understand the capabilities of AI and enjoy its benefits.
Google was one of seven companies that originally committed to the White House's voluntary AI standards, alongside Amazon, Anthropic, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Eight additional companies have now joined the agreement: Adobe, Cohere, IBM, Nvidia, Palantir, Salesforce, Scale AI, and Stability.
