Facebook Parent Meta wants the world to know that it is serious about artificial intelligence. In its earnings call last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that “AI” more than 20 times during his opening presentation, and CFO Susan Li said that the company expect to spend about $30 this year to support a “continued AI capacity building.” Last month, Zuckerberg said the company “single largest investment” is in advancing AI and “building it into every one of our products.” The White House either didn’t get the message or didn’t take it seriously. Just look at guest list of CEOs invited to discuss AI at the White House yesterday.
Zuckerberg was not included—an obvious omission given Meta’s position in the tech world.
By way of clarification, a Biden administration official said the meeting was “focused on companies that are currently leading the way in the space, particularly in the consumer-facing product segment,” according to CNN. Well.
Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials discussed the need for ethical and responsible AI development with the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic. President Joe Biden also stopped by the meeting, according to CNN.
The White House listed among the concerns of AI this automation that leads to job loss, new tricks for hackers, and deep fakes and misinformation that can harm the democratic process, as well the physical dangers from autonomous cars.
“There’s a lot the federal government can do to make sure we get AI right, but we also need companies and innovators to be our partners in this work,” a senior administration official said in a press briefing yesterday. “Technology companies have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that their products are safe and secure and that they protect people’s rights before they are distributed or made public.”
Given the prominence of Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram—and Meta’s clear intention to prioritize AI—an invitation to Zuckerberg seems like a no-brainer. Not that everything has been smooth sailing on the AI front for Meta. Last week, Reuters reported that it had obtained an internal memo from last September in which Meta executives mentioned that late to adopt AI-friendly hardwarewhich led to the slow development of AI and a computing crunch in the company.
However, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told Nikkei Asia earlier this month that Meta is investing in AI for “more than a decade,” has “one of the world’s leading research institutes,” and will commercialize generative AI in December.
Zuckerberg’s absence yesterday isn’t the first time a big-name CEO hasn’t been invited to an important meeting at the Biden White House.
Surprisingly absent from an August 2021 meeting with Biden on electric vehicles Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose carmaker is clearly leading the EV field. Musk Tweet“Yes, it seems strange that Tesla was not invited.”
Asked about the absence, then press secretary Jen Psaki THE audience these are the three largest employers of United Auto Workers members who stood with Biden when he announced new EV targets. Musk has discouraged unions in Tesla.
Yesterday the White House said it will introduce policies that shape how federal agencies acquire and use AI systems, which could influence the market for AI products and shape how they interact. Americans with AI on government websites, at security checkpoints, and in other settings.
luck Meta reached out for comments but did not receive an immediate response.