Apple has joined a growing list of tech companies committing to President Joe Biden's voluntary guidelines for responsible artificial intelligence (AI) development. The White House announced on Friday that Apple has signed onto the AI safety pact, bringing the total number of participating companies to 16.
The guidelines, first unveiled in July 2023, call for companies to rigorously test their AI systems for potential risks, including discriminatory biases, security vulnerabilities, and national security concerns. Companies are also expected to transparently share the results of these tests with government agencies, civil society organisations, and academia. Google and OpenAI partner Microsoft, as well as eight more firms including Adobe, IBM, and Nvidia signed on.
"Apple is the latest company to agree to a set of voluntary safeguards for artificial intelligence crafted by President Joe Biden's administration as it tries to guide the development of the emerging technology and encourage firms to protect consumers," the White House said in a statement.
The move comes at a pivotal moment for Apple, as the company prepares to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot into its iPhone voice assistant as part of a new suite of AI features. This partnership has drawn scrutiny from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has expressed concerns about the security implications of integrating OpenAI's technology at the operating system level. After the announcement of the Apple-OpenAI partnership, Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk vowed to ban Apple devices from his companies if OpenAI's artificial intelligence software is integrated at the operating system level. He called it a security risk.
While the voluntary guidelines are not legally enforceable, they represent the Biden administration's efforts to promote responsible AI development in the absence of formal regulation. Congress has expressed interest in regulating AI, but legislative progress has been slow.
President Biden has called on industry leaders to prioritise safety and ethical considerations in their AI development efforts.