The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled on Friday the membership of the newly created artificial intelligence (AI) safety and security advisory board, as directed by President Biden's Executive Order on the 'Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence', unveiled last October.

Members from diverse sectors make up the board, including tech industry CEOs like Sam Altman (OpenAI), Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Lisa Su (AMD), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), civil rights leaders with Kristen Clarke (Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law), academics such as Fei-Fei Li (Stanford), and the assistant to President Biden for Science and Technology Arati Prabhakar (Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy).

Why does it matter?

The new board will support the responsible development of AI technologies and advise the government on AI's role in critical infrastructure as part of wider efforts by DHS to improve AI safety and security nationally. In its 2024 threat assessment, the DHS warned that AI-assisted technologies had the 'potential to enable larger scale, faster, efficient, and more evasive cyber attacks-against targets, including pipelines, railways, and other US critical infrastructure.'

In their capacity, the board members will offer guidance on the responsible development and use of AI and specific recommendations to key infrastructure organisations such as telecommunications, electric utilities, internet service providers, pipelines, and transportation on how to safely use AI and prepare for any AI-related disruptions.