Commerce Department names Elizabeth Kelly as first director of AI Safety Institute

Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that Biden economic advisor Elizabeth Kelly will lead the newly created AI Safety Institute.

The department noted that Kelly was a "driving force" behind President Joe Biden's AI executive order and as the head of the institute will lead programs on developing and deploying AI that is "safe, secure and trustworthy" and evaluate advanced language models and other forms of AI to mitigate safety threats.

"The Safety Institute's ambitious mandate to develop guidelines, evaluate models, and pursue fundamental research will be vital to addressing the risks and seizing the opportunities of AI," Kelly said. "I am thrilled to work with the talented NIST team and the broader AI community to advance our scientific understanding to foster AI safety."

Elham Tabassi, currently the Trustworthy and Responsible AI program lead for the National Institute for Standards and Technology, will also join the institute as its chief technology officer, the Commerce Department said.

"The USAISI will advance American leadership globally in responsible AI innovations that will make our lives better," Tabassi said. "We must have a firm understanding of the technology, its current and emerging capabilities and limitations."

President Joe Biden in October signed a sweeping executive order to regulate AI that placed requirements on tech developers and required the Commerce Department to develop public guidance to label AI content, among other things.

In November, ahead of the Global Summit on AI Safety in London, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the establishment of the agency.

"For the United States to lead the world in the development of safe, responsible AI, we need the brightest minds at the helm," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.