US DHS Launches AI Safety and Security Board

16 days ago

KEY FACT: The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) HAS launched its Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board to promote the safe and secure use of AI in critical US infrastructure. The board members include Big Tech CEOs.

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DHS Launches AI Safety and Security Board

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has created an Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board to work in an advisory capacity to ensure that AI and machine learning systems adequately protect the public. This was announced on Friday by the DHS Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas as directed by President Biden’s Executive Order (EO), “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” signed in October last year.

The Board comprises 22 representatives from various areas of the larger artificial intelligence sector, AI experts from the private sector, academia, government, and industry advocacy groups. The board is tasked with developing recommendations to promote the safe and secure use of AI in critical US infrastructure like pipeline and power grid operators and transportation and internet service providers to leverage AI responsibly.

Secretary Mayorkas, in a press release, emphasized that AI is a double-edged technology that can make or mar users depending on use and regulation. Mayorkas harped on the Board's competent composition that would help DHS stay ahead of evolving threats posed by hostile nation-state actors.

“Artificial Intelligence is a transformative technology that can advance our national interests in unprecedented ways. At the same time, it presents real risks— risks that we can mitigate by adopting best practices and taking other studied concrete actions,”

“I am grateful that such accomplished leaders are dedicating their time and expertise to the Board to help ensure our nation’s critical infrastructure — the vital services upon which Americans rely every day — effectively guards against the risks and realizes the enormous potential of this transformative technology.”

The composition of this board is an early action against a possible use of AI-assisted tools against the US economic security and critical infrastructure by nation-states like China, Russia, and Iran as reported in the DHS' Threat Assessment of 2024.

Know the Board?

The composition of the Board pictures the who’s who of Big Tech, including CEOs like Sam Altman (OpenAI), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), and Dario Amodei (Anthropic). Other members of the board are:

Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Air Lines;
Rumman Chowdhury, Ph.D., CEO, Humane Intelligence;
Alexandra Reeve Givens, President and CEO, Center for Democracy and Technology
Bruce Harrell, Mayor of Seattle, Washington; Chair, Technology and Innovation Committee, United States Conference of Mayors;
Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law;
Adam Selipsky, CEO, Amazon Web Services;
Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD);
Nicol Turner Lee, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution;
Vicki Hollub, President and CEO, Occidental Petroleum;
Jensen Huang, President and CEO, NVIDIA;
Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM;
Fei-Fei Li, Ph.D., Co-Director, Stanford Human-centered Artificial Intelligence Institute;
Kathy Warden, Chair, CEO and President, Northrop Grumman; and
Maya Wiley, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Arati Prabhakar, Ph.D., Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; Director, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy;
Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland;
Shantanu Narayen, Chair and CEO, Adobe;
Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO, Cisco; Chair, Business Roundtable;

The 22 board members will report to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. However, big advocates for open-source AI models like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are surprisingly committed from the board. Mayorkas in response told reporters that he deliberately chose not to include “social media companies” to sit on the board.

There are insinuations that Secretary Mayorkas's deliberate exemption of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk could be linked to their open-source AI strategy which may not relly sit well DHS'drive.

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