Harris has also been very outspoken about the challenges surrounding AI. Since being appointed as AI czar soon after Biden came into power, the Vice President has been committed to laying down the law in the industry, repeatedly commenting on the “existential threats” society is facing from the technology in public addresses, as well as the short-term risks.
Harris even warned top tech CEOs, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, that they have a ‘moral, legal responsibility’ to mitigate the risks of AI, and agrees with Biden that protecting the public from its danger doesn’t have to come at odds with advancing innovation.
“When a woman is threatened by an abusive partner with explicit deepfake photographs, is that not existential for her? When a young father is wrongfully imprisoned because of bias? Is that not existential for his family?” – Vice President Kamala Harris at the Global Summit on AI Safety in London
Harris honed in on issues such as AI scams, deepfake technology, and algorithmic bias in a 2023 address at the Global Summit on AI Safety in London, suggesting that the Vice President could roll out targeted policies to limit disruption of AI if she came into power.
However, with the Biden Administration still falling behind European governments when it comes to enshrining AI safeguards into law, it’s too soon to tell if Harris’s potential crackdown would be substantial enough to impact the average US citizen.
