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Free Software Foundation to serve on "artificial intelligence" safety consortium

by Greg Farough Contributions Published on Oct 08, 2024 03:26 PM
BOSTON (October 8, 2024) -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced that it is taking part in the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s consortium on the safety of (so-called) artificial intelligence, particularly with reference to "generative" AI systems. The FSF will ensure the free software perspective is adequately represented in these discussions.

The consortium involves representatives from more than 600 different institutions, including institutions commonly criticized by the FSF such as Meta, Amazon, and Google. Realizing that it is an environment hostile to software freedom, the FSF will do its utmost to urge the consortium and its individual task force in a direction that prioritizes the freedom of the individual user.

FSF campaigns manager Greg Farough stated: "Given the FSF's position in the field of technological ethics, people have been waiting for us to say something on this topic. Up to this point we've been studying it thoroughly with an internal working group that has been researching the technical and philosophical aspects of so-called AI. Participating in the consortium is one way we plan to be more vocal about the conclusions we've made so far."

"The FSF is taking a careful approach towards machine learning systems in general," said FSF executive director Zoë Kooyman. "Machine learning systems are currently widely deployed, changing our day-to-day computing. We need to take care to preserve user control over our technology and that merits careful evaluation. The FSF has a responsibility to steer the conversation back to what works: the four freedoms."

Upon the launch of the consortium, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo remarked: "The U.S. government has a significant role to play in setting the standards and developing the tools we need to mitigate the risks and harness the immense potential of artificial intelligence. President Biden directed us to pull every lever to accomplish two key goals: set safety standards and protect our innovation ecosystem. [...] [B]y working with this group of leaders from industry, civil society, and academia, together we can confront these challenges to develop the measurements and standards we need to maintain America's competitive edge and develop AI responsibly."

The FSF previously announced its interest in and acceptance to the consortium in a staff panel held at LibrePlanet 2024.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its websites, fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org.

More information about the FSF, as well as important information for journalists and publishers, is at https://www.fsf.org/press.

Media Contacts

Greg Farough
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation

+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org

Image Copyright © 2022, DarwinPeacock, Maklaang, adapted by Miriam Bastian licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

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