Top AI business leaders meet with Biden administration to discuss the emerging industry’s needs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Biden administration officials on Thursday discussed the future of artificial intelligence at a meeting with a group of executives from OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft and other companies. The focus was on building data centers in the United States and the infrastructure needed to develop the technology.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily press briefing that the meeting focused on increasing public-private collaboration and the workforce and permitting needs of the industry. The computer power for the sector will likely depend on reliable access to electricity, so some utility companies were also part of the meeting to discuss power grid needs.

The emergence of AI holds a mix of promise and peril: The automatically generated text, images, audio and video could help to increase economic productivity but it also has the potential to displace some workers. It also could serve as both a national security tool and a threat to guard against.

President Joe Biden last October signed an executive order to address the develop of the technology, seeking to establish protections through steps such as the watermarking of AI content and addressing consumer rights issues.

Attending the meeting for the administration were: White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.