Vice President Kamala Harris Outlines Stance on AI, Big Tech, and Privacy in 2024 Election Campaign

U.S. Presidential Election 2024: Kamala Harris on AI and Big Tech

The U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is potentially poised to become the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election. As VP, Harris has been particularly outspoken on artificial intelligence (AI). She warned against the "existential" threat of AI and said it could "endanger the very existence of humanity," in a November 2023 address. In a meeting with tech execs like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Harris warned that they have a "moral" obligation to guard against AI's possible dangers. She backed an AI executive order from President Joe Biden that sought stronger protections for consumers, singling out AI-generated scam calls and the impacts of unlabelled AI-generated content. Prior to joining the Biden administration, as California attorney general, Harris sued eBay over the ecommerce company's anticompetitive hiring practices surrounding a no-poaching agreement with Intuit. The lawsuit led to a nearly $4 million settlement in 2014. J.D. Vance: Trump's heir apparent In a different lawsuit against Houzz, she compelled the startup to hire a chief privacy officer after allegations that the home design app had recorded sales calls without proper notification and consent. (For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today's Cache) She has also been at the forefront of curtailing distribution of pornography on social media, particularly "revenge porn," a practice involving the posting of explicit photos without the subject's consent. She took credit for a pressure campaign that led to Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others taking measures to remove certain explicit images. (with inputs from Reuters) Read Comments

VP Kamala Harris is no stranger to the tech industry. Here's what she's done about AI

Vice President Kamala Harris is the potential Democratic nominee for president -- and she's no stranger to the tech industry. Harris, who was endorsed by President Joe Biden after he announced he was dropping out of the 2024 election, has received an endorsement from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and previously counted tech investors, such as early Google investor and billionaire John Doerr and venture capitalist Ron Conway, as donors when she made her first run for California attorney general. She later received donations from former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff when she ran for re-election. As California attorney general and later as a U.S. senator, Harris pushed for more regulation in the tech sector and took on social media platforms for misinformation and online sex harassment. As vice president, Harris was tasked by the Biden administration to focus on rules and regulations around artificial intelligence. Last May, Harris met with chief executives of tech companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence development, including OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, to discuss the risks associated with the technology. The meeting focused on the need for more transparency from tech companies on AI advancements, the ability to evaluate and validate that AI is safe, secure, and effective, and the importance of AI systems being "secure from malicious actors and attacks," according to the White House. The discussion built upon White House efforts, including the AI Bill of Rights, which Harris later said is meant "to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy AI," and the administration's AI Risk Management Framework. In November, Harris said she and Biden "reject the false choice that suggests we can either protect the public or advance innovation," during remarks at the Global Summit on AI Safety in London. She also announced the Biden administration's establishment of a United States AI Safety Institute to "create rigorous standards to test the safety of AI models for public use." In the spring, Harris announced that the White House Office of Management and Budget was issuing its first government-wide policy around AI risks and benefits. Under the policy, government agencies using AI will have to verify that the tools are not a danger to "the rights and safety" of the public, Harris told reporters. If Harris is chosen as the democratic presidential nominee and eventually wins the election, she will likely continue with the Biden administration's executive order on AI that addresses safety and security around developing and using the technology. "This is a moment of profound opportunity. The benefits of AI are immense," Harris said at the AI Safety Summit in November. "It could give us the power to fight the climate crisis, make medical and scientific breakthroughs, explore our universe, and improve everyday life for people around the world. So, let us seize this moment. Let us recognize this moment we are in."

Kamala Harris On AI, TikTok And Big Tech Breakups: 'Privacy Is Not Being Compromised' - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Big technology companies, and potential breakups, could become a key 2024 election item. The potential appointment of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party nominee could put artificial intelligence and big technology companies in the spotlight leading up to the 2024 presidential election. Harris On AI: Harris, who received President Joe Biden's endorsement as the 2024 Democratic nominee Sunday, is on record calling for AI regulation. The former prosecutor has said she rejects "the false choice that suggests we can either protect the public or advance innovation." "Voluntary commitments are an initial step toward a safer AI future with more to come, because, as history has shown, in the absence of regulation and strong government oversight, some technology companies choose to prioritize profit over the wellbeing of their customers, the safety of our communities, and the stability of our democracies," Harris previously said, as reported by TechCrunch. Harris will likely be less lenient than Biden was in pushing for voluntary standards to regulate the AI sector, Politico reports. For comparison, Trump has placed low emphasis on AI regulation. He has the support of several notable Silicon Valley donors, including venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who worry that Harris will "overregulate" the AI sector. Read Also: EXCLUSIVE - Market Strategist Predicts 4 Winning Sectors Based On Trump Or Biden 2024 Election Victory Harris on Big Tech: While not a major 2024 election issue, big technology companies and the potential push to break them up could become a new topic if Harris is the Democratic nominee. Harris -- as a Senator, the former attorney general in California and a former district attorney in San Francisco -- has a history with the tech sector. Some critics have said Harris didn't do enough while serving as the state's AG to limit the growing influence of big technology companies. While other Democratic candidates pushed for big technology companies like Amazon.com Inc AMZN, Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL and Meta Platforms META to be broken up during the 2020 election, Harris did not. Harris said the big technology companies should be "regulated in a way that we can ensure the American consumer can be certain that their privacy is not being compromised." A potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. has also been a potential election issue. Harris previously said that TikTok shouldn't be banned. "We need to deal with the owner, and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok," Harris said. Meanwhile, Trump's new running mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance has called for the breakup of big technology companies like Alphabet. "It's time to break Google up. This matters far more than any other election integrity issue. The monopolistic control of information in our society resides with an explicitly progressive technology company," Vance tweeted earlier this year. Vance has targeted Google and Facebook in past comments. Stances on breaking up big technology companies and pushing for regulation could quickly become an increasing large topic in the 2024 election and potentially at a future presidential debate given the large number of donations coming in from technology leaders on both sides of the political aisle. Read Next: Trump VP Pick J.D. Vance 'Worth Watching' For Potential Google Breakup, Market Strategist Says Not A Primary Concern With Trump Leading The Way Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

U.S. Vice President Harris' views on business issues

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is potentially poised to become the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election. Here are her views and actions related to some key business topics. TECH REGULATION As California attorney general, Harris sued eBay in 2012, alleging anticompetitive hiring practices surrounding a no-poaching agreement with Intuit that led to a nearly $4 million settlement in 2014. In 2015, she compelled startup Houzz to hire a chief privacy officer after allegations that the home design app had recorded sales calls without proper notification and consent. One of her signature issues was curtailing the distribution of pornography on social media, particularly "revenge porn," a practice involving the posting of explicit photos without the subject's consent. She took credit for a pressure campaign that led to Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft and others taking measures to remove certain explicit images. "I cannot emphasize enough how leaders in technology have stepped up," said Harris at a news conference then. "I'm not suggesting any of them were happy to get a call from the AG saying, 'Come in, we want to talk with you.' But they all did. They did." BIG TECH As a candidate for California attorney general, Harris reportedly assured potential donors that she was "a capitalist." She has generally been seen as cozy with prominent tech executives and investors, the local industry in her home Bay Area. She attended the wedding of Sean Parker, an early Facebook executive. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, is the chief legal officer for Uber. She also accepted donations from Reid Hoffman, a prominent venture capitalist and co-founder of Linkedin, as well as billionaire John Doerr and venture capitalist Ron Conway. Big tech executives also supported her, including Sheryl Sandberg, then chief operating officer of Facebook, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce. Harris' climate and energy positions are similar to Biden's. But throughout her career she has made clear that clean energy and environmental justice are priorities. When Biden announced Harris as his running mate in the 2020 race, he emphasized her tough stance against big oil when she served in key roles in California, noting lawsuits she had launched both as San Francisco's district attorney from 2004 to 2011 and then as the state's attorney general until January 2017, when she became a U.S. senator. Last year, Harris made her debut at international climate negotiations, announcing a $3 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund and making her first major international speech focused on climate. As vice president, Harris has also been involved in Environmental Protection Agency policy rollouts that tackled long-standing environmental justice issues, such as a multibillion-dollar program to replace lead pipes and lead paint around the country. As vice president, Harris has been particularly outspoken on artificial intelligence. She warned against the "existential" threat of AI and said it could "endanger the very existence of humanity," in a November 2023 address. In meeting with tech execs like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Harris warned that they have a "moral" obligation to guard against AI's possible dangers. She backed an AI executive order from Biden that seeks stronger protections for consumers, singling out AI-generated scam calls and the impacts of unlabeled AI-generated content. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Leslie Adler)

Explainer-U.S. Vice President Harris' Views on Business Issues

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is potentially poised to become the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election. Here are her views and actions related to some key business topics. TECH REGULATION As California attorney general, Harris sued eBay in 2012, alleging anticompetitive hiring practices surrounding a no-poaching agreement with Intuit that led to a nearly $4 million settlement in 2014. In 2015, she compelled startup Houzz to hire a chief privacy officer after allegations that the home design app had recorded sales calls without proper notification and consent. One of her signature issues was curtailing the distribution of pornography on social media, particularly "revenge porn," a practice involving the posting of explicit photos without the subject's consent. She took credit for a pressure campaign that led to Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft and others taking measures to remove certain explicit images. "I cannot emphasize enough how leaders in technology have stepped up," said Harris at a news conference then. "I'm not suggesting any of them were happy to get a call from the AG saying, 'Come in, we want to talk with you.' But they all did. They did." BIG TECH As a candidate for California attorney general, Harris reportedly assured potential donors that she was "a capitalist." She has generally been seen as cozy with prominent tech executives and investors, the local industry in her home Bay Area. She attended the wedding of Sean Parker, an early Facebook executive. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, is the chief legal officer for Uber. She also accepted donations from Reid Hoffman, a prominent venture capitalist and co-founder of Linkedin, as well as billionaire John Doerr and venture capitalist Ron Conway. Big tech executives also supported her, including Sheryl Sandberg, then chief operating officer of Facebook, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce. CLIMATE AND ENERGY Harris' climate and energy positions are similar to Biden's. But throughout her career she has made clear that clean energy and environmental justice are priorities. When Biden announced Harris as his running mate in the 2020 race, he emphasized her tough stance against big oil when she served in key roles in California, noting lawsuits she had launched both as San Francisco's district attorney from 2004 to 2011 and then as the state's attorney general until January 2017, when she became a U.S. senator. Last year, Harris made her debut at international climate negotiations, announcing a $3 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund and making her first major international speech focused on climate. As vice president, Harris has also been involved in Environmental Protection Agency policy rollouts that tackled long-standing environmental justice issues, such as a multibillion-dollar program to replace lead pipes and lead paint around the country. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE As vice president, Harris has been particularly outspoken on artificial intelligence. She warned against the "existential" threat of AI and said it could "endanger the very existence of humanity," in a November 2023 address. In meeting with tech execs like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Harris warned that they have a "moral" obligation to guard against AI's possible dangers. She backed an AI executive order from Biden that seeks stronger protections for consumers, singling out AI-generated scam calls and the impacts of unlabeled AI-generated content. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Leslie Adler)

Explainer-Harris' business views: friendly to Big Tech, aggressive in climate fight

As California attorney general, Harris sued eBay in 2012, alleging anticompetitive hiring practices surrounding a no-poaching agreement with Intuit that led to a nearly $4 million settlement in 2014. In 2015, she compelled startup Houzz to hire a chief privacy officer after allegations that the home design app had recorded sales calls without proper notification and consent. One of her signature issues was curtailing the distribution of pornography on social media, particularly "revenge porn," a practice involving the posting of explicit photos without the subject's consent. She took credit for a pressure campaign that led to Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft and others taking measures to remove certain explicit images. "I cannot emphasize enough how leaders in technology have stepped up," said Harris at a news conference then. "I'm not suggesting any of them were happy to get a call from the AG saying, 'Come in, we want to talk with you.' But they all did. They did." As a candidate for California attorney general, Harris reportedly assured potential donors that she was "a capitalist." She has generally been seen as cozy with prominent tech executives and investors, the local industry in her home Bay Area. She attended the wedding of Sean Parker, an early Facebook executive. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, is the chief legal officer for Uber. She also accepted donations from Reid Hoffman, a prominent venture capitalist and co-founder of Linkedin, as well as billionaire John Doerr and venture capitalist Ron Conway. Big tech executives also supported her, including Sheryl Sandberg, then chief operating officer of Facebook, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce. Harris' climate and energy positions are similar to Biden's. But throughout her career she has made clear that clean energy and environmental justice are priorities. When Biden announced Harris as his running mate in the 2020 race, he emphasized her tough stance against big oil when she served in key roles in California, noting lawsuits she had launched both as San Francisco's district attorney from 2004 to 2011 and then as the state's attorney general until January 2017, when she became a U.S. senator. Last year, Harris made her debut at international climate negotiations, announcing a $3 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund and making her first major international speech focused on climate. As vice president, Harris has also been involved in Environmental Protection Agency policy rollouts that tackled long-standing environmental justice issues, such as a multibillion-dollar program to replace lead pipes and lead paint around the country. As vice president, Harris has been particularly outspoken on artificial intelligence. She warned against the "existential" threat of AI and said it could "endanger the very existence of humanity," in a November 2023 address. In meeting with tech execs like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Harris warned that they have a "moral" obligation to guard against AI's possible dangers. She backed an AI executive order from Biden that seeks stronger protections for consumers, singling out AI-generated scam calls and the impacts of unlabeled AI-generated content. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Leslie Adler)