Tech companies promise watermark to differentiate AI creations: White House

The White House said on Friday (July 21) that OpenAI and other tech giants in the artificial intelligence race have committed that they would make their technology safer with features like watermarks on fabricated images.

"These commitments, which the companies have chosen to undertake immediately, underscore three principles that must be fundamental to the future of AI -- safety, security, and trust -- and mark a critical step toward developing responsible AI," the White House said in a release.

Later on Friday, representatives from Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta,Microsoft and Open AI were due to joinUS President Joe Biden to announce the commitments. These include developing "robust technical mechanisms" like watermarking systems to ensure that users get to know which content is AI-generated.

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There are worries that images or audios generated by artificial intelligence will be used to deceive people and to commit fraud along with spreading misinformation as the tech improves in the run up to 2024 US Presidential Election.

Ways to tell when audio or imagery have been generated artificially are being sought to prevent people from being duped by fakes that look or sound real.

"They're committing to setting up a broader regime towards making it easier for consumers to know whether content is AI-generated or not," a White House official said, as quoted by AFP

"There is technical work to be done, but the point here is that it applies to audio and visual content, and it will be part of a broader system."

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The goal is for it to be easy for people to tell when online content is created by AI, the official added.

The White House has said that commitments these companies have made include independent testing of AI systems for risks when it comes to biosecurity, cybersecurity, or "societal effects."

Common Sense Media, a review and rating organisation commended the White House for its "commitment to establishing critical policies to regulate AI technology," according to its chief execurtive James Steyer.

"That said, history would indicate that many tech companies do not actually walk the walk on a voluntary pledge to act responsibly and support strong regulations."

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US President Joe Biden is also working on an executive order which is intended to ensure that AI is safe and trustworthy.

Watermarks for AI-generated content were among the topics EU commissioner Thierry Breton discussed with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman during a June visit to San Francisco.

(With inputs from agencies)

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