The Biden administration on Wednesday named a top White House aide as the director of the newly established safety institute for artificial intelligence. Elizabeth Kelly will lead the AI Safety Institute at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which is part of the Commerce Department. Currently an economic policy adviser for President Joe Biden, Kelly played an integral role in drafting the executive order signed at the end of October that established the institute, the Commerce Department said in a statement.
Quick Read
- New AI Safety Institute Director: Elizabeth Kelly, a senior economic policy adviser to President Biden, has been appointed to lead the AI Safety Institute at the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
- Institute’s Foundation: Kelly played a crucial role in drafting the executive order that led to the establishment of the institute, aimed at enhancing AI technology development and ensuring its safety.
- Role and Objectives: The AI Safety Institute will focus on creating testing standards for AI systems, with plans to introduce “red team” testing standards by July to assess the safety of AI for consumers and businesses.
- Importance of Safety Tests: The Biden administration emphasizes the need for standardized safety tests to foster trust and facilitate broader AI adoption, addressing the current lack of universal testing standards.
- Background: Kelly, with a background in law and finance, brings experience from the Obama administration and the private sector to her new role at the forefront of AI safety and regulation.
The Associated Press has the story:
Biden admin names Elizabeth Kelly as director of new AI Safety Institute
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Biden administration on Wednesday named a top White House aide as the director of the newly established safety institute for artificial intelligence.
Elizabeth Kelly will lead the AI Safety Institute at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which is part of the Commerce Department. Currently an economic policy adviser for President Joe Biden, Kelly played an integral role in drafting the executive order signed at the end of October that established the institute, the Commerce Department said in a statement.
In the announcement, Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said that Kelly “shaped the president’s agenda on tech and financial regulation and worked to build broad coalitions of stakeholders.”
The new institute will play a critical role in fostering the development of the technology. By July, it’s set to create “red team” testing standards for major AI developers to ensure that the systems are safe for consumers and businesses.
The administration considers the safety tests as necessary to unlock the benefits of the rapidly moving technology, creating a level of trust that will allow for wider adoption of AI.
The federal government recently began requiring AI companies to test their systems. But so far, those tests lack the universal set of standards that the institute plans to finalize this summer.
Kelly is a graduate of Yale Law School who also worked in the Obama White House and at the financial company Capital One, according to her LinkedIn page.
