What's Next in AI: How do we regulate AI, and protect against worst outcomes?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 13, 2024

EVAN ROBINSON-JOHNSON , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; What's Next in AI: How do we regulate AI, and protect against worst outcomes?

"Gov. Josh Shapiro will give more of an update on that project and others at a Monday event in Pittsburgh.

While most folks will likely ask him how Pennsylvania can build and use the tools of the future, a growing cadre in Pittsburgh is asking a broader policy question about how to protect against AI’s worst tendencies...

There are no federal laws that regulate the development and use of AI. Even at the state level, policies are sparse. California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a major AI safety bill last month that would have forced greater commitments from the nation’s top AI developers, most of which are based in the Golden State...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai made a similar argument during a visit to Pittsburgh last month. He encouraged students from local high schools to build AI systems that will make the world a better place, then told a packed audience at Carnegie Mellon University that AI is “too important a technology not to regulate.”

Mr. Pichai said he’s hoping for an “innovation-oriented approach” that mostly leverages existing regulations rather than reinventing the wheel."

Google CEO Pichai says Gemini's AI image results "offended our users"; NPR, February 28, 2024

Bobby Allyn , NPR; Google CEO Pichai says Gemini's AI image results "offended our users"

"Gemini, which was previously named Bard, is also an AI chatbot, similar to OpenAI's hit service ChatGPT. 

The text-generating capabilities of Gemini also came under scrutiny after several outlandish responses went viral online...

In his note to employees at Google, Pichai wrote that when Gemini is re-released to the public, he hopes the service is in better shape. 

"No AI is perfect, especially at this emerging stage of the industry's development, but we know the bar is high for us and we will keep at it for however long it takes," Pichai wrote."

Google canceled companywide meeting over anti-diversity memo after questions leak; Salon, August 11, 2017

Angelo Young, Salon; Google canceled companywide meeting over anti-diversity memo after questions leak

"Google canceled a planned company-wide meeting to discuss a memo questioning the company’s diversity efforts after employees said they feared being exposed to online harassment. The town hall meeting between company higher ups and their employees had been scheduled for Thursday, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai canceled the meeting a half-hour before it was scheduled to start.

The search giant is dealing with the fallout from the 10-page memo written and posted on the company’s internal network by Google software engineer James Damore arguing that women are biologically less suited to be engineers. The company responded by firing Damore on Monday.

“We had hoped to have a frank, open discussion today as we always do to bring us together and move forward,” Pichai said in an email sent to Google staff on Thursday. “But our Dory questions appeared externally this afternoon, and on some websites, Googlers are now being named personally. Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be ‘outed’ publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall.”"