US President Donald Trump has signed a deal with tech companies to create voluntary rules for AI safety, including cybersecurity and biosecurity measures.
PARIS: US President Donald Trump has signed a deal with tech leaders outlining a regime of self-regulation for the AI industry. What's in the deal and what has been the reaction?
The document does not break the 400-word mark and has just four substantive points. It calls for "robust internal controls" in areas including cybersecurity, biosecurity and chemical threats. It asks firms to ensure their AI bots do not hack other systems "in unintended ways". These guidelines are to be overseen by internal teams, as well as an "independent external auditor or evaluator" and the companies agreed to hold regular meetings.
OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have all provoked outrage by admitting that their programmes have hacked other firms and even government agencies while supposedly in controlled testing environments. There is a growing clamour for regulation of the industry to police these kinds of events. French lawyer Eric Barbry told AFP he did not hold out too much hope that self-regulation could solve the issue. "Who will punish companies if they fail to comply with these principles?" he asked. Lacking any proper supervisory authority, the most potent weapon in the document is an audit - but this, he pointed out, will not stop such incidents.