White House Consulted Obama To Form A.I. Strategy

(ConservativeInsider.org) – Former President Barack Obama has been quietly assisting President Joe Biden behind the scenes on a recent executive order signed by Biden about artificial intelligence (AI) according to aides from both men. At Biden’s request, Obama held meetings with executives from top tech companies as well as with aides from the Biden administration and lawmakers like Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for nearly six months. Obama also spoke to advocacy groups that are concerned about power of AI, in addition to researchers and academics who are well-informed on the issues.

President Obama has long had an interest in artificial intelligence, releasing a report during his second term about how AI could shape our country and world in the future. Biden seems to have taken his position from Obama, calling AI the “most consequential technology” currently available. Biden seems to have been unaware of the powers of AI until earlier this year, when aides showed him how Chat GPT. They demonstrated this by giving it prompts to explain a Supreme Court decision three different ways– at a level a first grader could understand, for a graduate of law school, and as Bruce Springsteen lyrics. The 80-year-old self-proclaimed “tech skeptic” was also shown deepfake videos of himself, wherein AI uses convincing recreations of a subject’s body and voice to make it appear as if they did or said things they never actually said.

White House officials have said that the topic of AI came up while Obama and Biden were having lunch over the summer and that the two are in contact “regularly.” Some, including former President Donald Trump, have alleged that by remaining in Washington, D.C., unlike any other former presidents, Obama is utilizing his connections and knowledge obtained during his time in the White House to maintain “shadow power” behind the scenes.

One of the biggest concerns the White House has over the power of AI is the possibility that it will generate and spread misinformation, particularly related to elections.