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White House: OpenAI, Google, Others Pledge to Watermark AI Content for Safety

This illustration picture shows icons of Google's AI (Artificial Intelligence) app BardAI (or ChatBot) (C-L), OpenAI's app ChatGPT (C-R) and other AI apps on a smartphone screen in Oslo, on July 12, 2023. (Photo by OLIVIER MORIN / AFP)
This illustration picture shows icons of Google's AI (Artificial Intelligence) app BardAI (or ChatBot) (C-L), OpenAI's app ChatGPT (C-R) and other AI apps on a smartphone screen in Oslo, on July 12, 2023. (Photo by OLIVIER MORIN / AFP)
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White House: OpenAI, Google, Others Pledge to Watermark AI Content for Safety

This illustration picture shows icons of Google's AI (Artificial Intelligence) app BardAI (or ChatBot) (C-L), OpenAI's app ChatGPT (C-R) and other AI apps on a smartphone screen in Oslo, on July 12, 2023. (Photo by OLIVIER MORIN / AFP)
This illustration picture shows icons of Google's AI (Artificial Intelligence) app BardAI (or ChatBot) (C-L), OpenAI's app ChatGPT (C-R) and other AI apps on a smartphone screen in Oslo, on July 12, 2023. (Photo by OLIVIER MORIN / AFP)

Top AI companies including OpenAI, Alphabet and Meta Platforms have made voluntary commitments to the White House to implement measures such as watermarking AI-generated content to help make the technology safer, the Biden administration said.
The companies - which also include Anthropic, Inflection, Amazon.com and OpenAI partner Microsoft - pledged to thoroughly test systems before releasing them and share information about how to reduce risks and invest in cybersecurity.
The move is seen as a win for the Biden administration's effort to regulate the technology which has experienced a boom in investment and consumer popularity, Reuters reported.
Since generative AI, which uses data to create new content like ChatGPT's human-sounding prose, became wildly popular this year, lawmakers around the world began considering how to mitigate the dangers of the emerging technology to national security and the economy.
US Senate Majority Chuck Schumer in June called for "comprehensive legislation" to advance and ensure safeguards on artificial intelligence.
Congress is considering a bill that would require political ads to disclose whether AI was used to create imagery or other content.
President Joe Biden, who is hosting executives from the seven companies at the White House on Friday, is also working on developing an executive order and bipartisan legislation on AI technology.
As part of the effort, the seven companies committed to developing a system to "watermark" all forms of content, from text, images, audios, to videos generated by AI so that users will know when the technology has been used.
This watermark, embedded in the content in a technical manner, presumably will make it easier for users to spot deep-fake images or audios that may, for example, show violence that has not occurred, create a better scam or distort a photo of a politician to put the person in an unflattering light.
It is unclear how the watermark will be evident in the sharing of the information.
The companies also pledged to focus on protecting users' privacy as AI develops and on ensuring that the technology is free of bias and not used to discriminate against vulnerable groups.

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AI Can Outpace Cybersecurity Norms 'in Months', Says Spy Alliance

FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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AI Can Outpace Cybersecurity Norms 'in Months', Says Spy Alliance

FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The most advanced artificial intelligence models are improving quickly enough to outsmart prevailing cybersecurity know-how within months, the Five Eyes spy agency alliance has warned.

The risk posed by AI-enhanced hacking is in the spotlight, after US startup Anthropic said in April that its cutting-edge Mythos models had unprecedented abilities to find software vulnerabilities, reported AFP.

The security agencies of Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand urged governments and businesses to act swiftly to prepare themselves as AI evolves.

"The rapid pace of frontier AI development means cyber risk assumptions can become outdated in months, not years," said a joint statement dated Monday.

AI "lowers barriers for malicious actors and increases the speed and complexity of attacks", the Five Eyes advisory said.

"Breaches will occur. Preparedness helps you contain them quickly and prevent escalation into major operational and financial crises."

To improve cyber defenses, organizations should integrate AI tools into their security operations, update old systems and limit access to critical systems among other steps, they said.

Anthropic this month suspended access to Mythos 5 and a restricted version called Fable 5 to comply with a US national security order.

Just days after publicly launching Fable 5, the company said it had received a government directive banning all foreign nationals from accessing the two models.

The intervention is striking for a White House that has otherwise pushed to loosen AI oversight -- even moving to block states from writing their own rules.

Technology

Indian Startup Head Appointed as New WhatsApp Boss

The WhatsApp logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The WhatsApp logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)
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Indian Startup Head Appointed as New WhatsApp Boss

The WhatsApp logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The WhatsApp logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)

Meta has tapped Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah as the new head of WhatsApp, as the US tech giant seeks ways to monetize the messaging app's massive user base.

The announcement, made Monday night, was accompanied by news that Meta would also lead a $900 million funding round in Shah's consumer finance firm CRED.

"Kunal built CRED into one of India's most important technology companies," Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.

"He brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world's biggest messaging app."

Shah, a serial entrepreneur and influential figure in India's fintech world, started CRED in 2018 after selling an earlier payments startup to Indian e-commerce giant Snapdeal for roughly $400 million.

He is also one of India's most prolific angel investors, according to data tracker Tracxn, with the local financial press often reporting how Shah agrees to seed funding pitches within minutes of hearing them.

But over the last few years, Shah has focused on building CRED -- which got its start by offering rewards to customers for timely credit card payments.

Since then, the company has aggressively expanded into offering wealth management, insurance and lending services to its 17 million users.

This experience is likely to help WhatsApp as it seeks new revenue streams that go beyond the core advertising business of Meta, which also runs Facebook and Instagram.

While India is WhatsApp's largest market -- with over half a billion users, according to 2021 government figures -- analysts say it has largely missed the chance to build an equally popular payments service.

In May, the messaging app offered businesses in India the ability to use artificial intelligence for services including responding to customers at all hours or booking appointments.

Shah acknowledged the scope for future growth, saying in a statement that the gap between "WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive".

India's startup ecosystem also celebrated Shah's appointment -- the latest example of an Indian-born executive becoming the leader of a Silicon Valley company.

Sajith Pai of Blume Ventures, an early stage Indian start-up backer said Shah was getting an "even bigger canvas to paint his bold brushstrokes in".

"Great news for everyone in the Indian startup ecosystem, and for India!"

Technology

Wikipedia Won’t Let AI Edit Articles, Co-founder Says

The artificial intelligence AI acronym at the 10th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair in Paris, France, June 18, 2026. (Reuters)
The artificial intelligence AI acronym at the 10th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair in Paris, France, June 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Wikipedia Won’t Let AI Edit Articles, Co-founder Says

The artificial intelligence AI acronym at the 10th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair in Paris, France, June 18, 2026. (Reuters)
The artificial intelligence AI acronym at the 10th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair in Paris, France, June 18, 2026. (Reuters)

Wikipedia does not trust artificial intelligence enough to let it play a direct role in editing articles on its platform, co-founder Jimmy Wales told AFP on Monday.

The problem of AI "hallucinations" -- in which fabricated output is confidently presented -- has been reduced with newer AI models but remains "very, very bad", Wales said on the sidelines of a climate action week event in London.

He added, however, that AI agents could prove useful in alerting Wikipedia's community of millions of editors to certain niche news that would otherwise be missed.

"We would not let it edit directly because you can't really trust it enough," he said.

Artificial intelligence platforms, meanwhile, rely on Wikipedia's content to answer users' questions.

That has contributed to an overall growth in visitors to the site from AI bots, while human traffic has dropped eight percent.

Wales, who sits on the board of trustees at the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, described the fall in human traffic as "meaningful" but "not a disaster," for the online encyclopedia, which ranks among the 10 most visited websites in the world.

The site, created in 2001, depends on donations from users so its business model does not directly rely on traffic.

Wales encouraged AI companies to "pay their fair share", because "hammering us with millions of requests costs real money," in the cost of running servers.

Wikipedia has already been "very successful" in signing agreements with several tech giants, the founder said.

"We're starting to block the ones who aren't behaving themselves, but we'll see how that goes."