Editor’s note: This article has been updated:
Amazon and Mastercard are among dozens of members of the government’s new artificial intelligence (AI) safety initiative.
The technology giant and payments company announced Thursday (February 8) that it is part of the newly formed American Artificial Intelligence Security Institute Consortium (AISIC).
Founded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the consortium aims to foster collaboration between industry and government to advance the safe use of AI.
“To realize the full potential of AI, we need to ensure trust in the technology,” Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said in a news release. “It starts with a common set of meaningful standards that protect users and foster inclusive innovation. The public-private partnership enabled by AISIC will help achieve this goal and strengthen responsible AI. It’s extremely important.”
“Amazon is collaborating with NIST, the Artificial Intelligence Safety Laboratory Consortium, to enable the identification of proven, scalable, and interoperable measurements and methodologies that advance the development of trustworthy AI and its responsible use. “We are establishing a new measurement science,” the company said. Separate notice.
The release adds that NIST has not evaluated commercial products under this consortium and does not endorse any products or services used.
Amazon and Mastercard are part of the more than 200-member AISIC, a group that includes technology giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft, schools like Princeton Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech, and various research groups. .
According to the release, Amazon will also donate $5 million in computer credits to the institute to accelerate the development of tools and methodologies that organizations can use to test the safety of underlying models.
“We are particularly interested in developing evaluation methods for very large parametric models and improving pre-deployment testing with a focus on domain-specific risks,” the release states. . “Along with key ISO standards and contributions from other AI bodies, this work will continue to establish an interoperable and reliable foundation for responsible AI development and deployment.”
AISIC stems from an executive order on AI announced by Vice President Kamala Harris during the Global Summit on AI Safety in the UK last year and signed by President Joe Biden in October 2023.
Amazon’s announcement comes a week after the company discussed its focus on AI during its full-year earnings conference.
Last year, the company announced a number of AI initiatives, including new automotive vehicle inspection technology, a generative AI shopping assistant known as Rufus, and a new AI-generated advertising solution.
CEO Andy Jassy appears to be looking at AI as a way to improve customer experience while driving revenue, predicting that the company will eventually make billions of dollars from its generative AI products.
“Gen AI is, and will continue to be, an area of widespread focus and investment across Amazon, in large part because we are reinventing so many customer experiences and processes,” he said. “There are very few initiatives that provide opportunities.” “And we believe it will ultimately generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue for Amazon over the next few years.”