Homeland Security Department to Release New A.I. Guidance
Companies that own or operate critical infrastructure increasingly rely on artificial intelligence.Airports use A.I.
in their security systems; water companies use it to predict pipe failures; and energy companies use it to project demand.On Thursday, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security will release new guidance for how such companies use the technology.The document, a compilation of voluntary best practices, stems from an executive order that President Biden signed more than a year ago to create safeguards around A.I.Among other measures, it directed the Department of Homeland Security to create a board of experts from the private and public sectors to examine how best to protect critical infrastructure.
The risks run the gamut from an airline meltdown to the exposure of confidential personal information.Alejandro N.Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, first convened the board in May.
It includes Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI; Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia; Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet; and Vicki Hollub, the chief executive of Occidental Petroleum.Given the broad range of companies whose executives worked to put it together, the guidance is general in scope.It encourages companies that provide cloud computing services, like Amazon, to monitor for suspicious activity and establish clear protocol for reporting it.
It suggests developers like OpenAI put in place strong privacy practices and look for potential biases.And for critical infrastructure owners and operators, like airlines, it encourages strong privacy practices and transparency around the use of A.I.The 35-page document stops short of suggesting any formal metrics that could be used to help companies hold themselves accountable for complying with the guidelines, though it calls on legislators to supplement companies’ internal oversight mechanisms with regulation — a requirement that President Biden acknowledged was necessary when he issued hi...