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On April 26, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the establishment of the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board. The board will advise the secretary, the critical infrastructure community, other private sector stakeholders, and the broader public on the safe and secure development and deployment of AI technology in the nation’s critical infrastructure. The board will develop recommendations to help critical infrastructure stakeholders, such as transportation service providers, pipeline and power grid operators, and internet service providers, more responsibly leverage AI technologies. It will also develop recommendations to prevent and prepare for AI-related disruptions to critical services that impact national or economic security, public health, or safety.
President Biden directed Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to establish the board, which includes 22 representatives from a range of sectors, including software and hardware companies, critical infrastructure operators, public officials, the civil rights community, and academia. The inaugural members of the board are:
- Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO and Co-Founder, Anthropic
- 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
- 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
- Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland
- Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft
- Shantanu Narayen, Chair and CEO, Adobe
- Sundar Pichai, CEO, Alphabet
- Arati Prabhakar, Ph.D., Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; Director, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO, Cisco; Chair, Business Roundtable
- 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
- Kathy Warden, Chair, CEO and President, Northrop Grumman
- Maya Wiley, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
DHS is responsible for the overall security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure, which hundreds of millions of Americans rely on every day to light their homes, conduct business, exchange information, and put food on the table. Critical infrastructure encompasses sixteen sectors of American industry, including our defense, energy, agriculture, transportation, and internet technology sectors. The board will advise DHS on ensuring the safe and responsible deployment of AI technology in these sectors in the years to come, and it will look to address threats posed by this technology to these vital services.
“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,” said Secretary Mayorkas. “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.”
Secretary Mayorkas selected these experts to develop multifaceted, cross-sector approaches to pressing issues surrounding the benefits and risks of this emerging technology. It will convene for the first time in Early May with subsequent meetings planned quarterly. At the outset, the board will: 1) provide the Secretary and the critical infrastructure community with actionable recommendations to ensure the safe adoption of AI technology in the essential services Americans depend upon every day, and 2) create a forum for DHS, the critical infrastructure community, and AI leaders to share information on the security risks presented by AI.
Source: DHS
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