Sam Altman and Satya Nadella Tapped for U.S. Government AI Security Board

(Bloomberg Law) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Ed Bastian and Microsoft Corp.‘s Satya Nadella are among the corporate executives tapped Friday to help shield critical US services from artificial intelligence-powered attacks, as part of the Biden administration’s broader effort to minimize risks the technology poses to national security.

The board, slated to meet for the first time in May, also includes OpenAI‘s CEO Sam Altman, and leaders from Amazon.com Inc, International Business Machines Corp., and Nvidia Corp.

The group will recommend steps to protect US pipelines, power grids, and transportation services from adversaries using AI to disrupt them, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Friday in announcing the board. It will also help companies use the technology to analyze security threats at scale.

“AI can be an extraordinarily powerful force to improve the efficiency and quality of all the services that critical infrastructure provides,” Mayorkas said. “At the same time, we recognize the tremendously debilitating impact its errant use can have.”

The Department of Homeland Security in late 2023 warned that AI enables US adversaries to launch “faster, efficient, and more evasive cyber attacks.”

President Joe Biden directed Mayorkas in October to assemble the board as part of a broader government-wide directive on AI. Mayorkas’ team will separately release guidelines next week for companies on how to implement AI in critical infrastructure, he said.

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