The White House AI Executive Order

A strong blueprint, much implementation work ahead

Like with the voluntary commitments from earlier in the year, safety, security, and trust are the pillars of the Executive Order just announced by the White House.

This broad EO fills a regulatory vacuum in the widening gap between the leading edge of technological innovation and our ability to set standards and design regulations. Its declared intent is to “ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence.”  Preliminary reports indicate the creation of an AI Council in the White House chief of staff’s office to lead on implementation and ensure agency execution. Additionally, the government will use its procurement and funding power to accelerate the adoption of the standards.

While these actions establish a strong blueprint to chart a path forward, much implementation work still lies ahead. The order includes provisions for the responsible and effective government use of AI like guidance for agencies’ use of AI, efficient contracting to help agencies acquire AI products and services faster, and accelerated hiring of AI professionals as part of a government-wide AI talent surge.

More details bellow.

AI Safety and Security

• Require that developers of the most powerful AI systems share their safety test results with the U.S. government before companies release their AI systems. This leverages the Defense Production Act.

• Develop standards, tools, and tests to help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy. NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology will set standards and the Department of Homeland Security will apply those standards to critical infrastructure sectors and establish the AI Safety and Security Board. The Departments of Energy and Homeland Security will also address AI systems’ threats to critical infrastructure, as well as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and cybersecurity risks.

• Protect against the risks of using AI to engineer dangerous biological materials by developing new standards for biological synthesis screening. Agencies that fund life science projects will use these standards as a condition of federal funding.

• Protect Americans from AI-enabled fraud and deception by establishing standards and best practices for detecting AI-generated content and authenticating official content.

• Establish an advanced cybersecurity program to develop AI tools to find and fix vulnerabilities in critical software.

• Order the development of a National Security Memorandum that directs further actions on AI and security for military and intelligence applications to be developed by the National Security Council and White House Chief of Staff.

Privacy

·       Call on Congress to pass bipartisan data privacy legislation to protect all Americans, especially kids.

• Prioritize federal support for accelerating the development and use of privacy-preserving techniques.

• Strengthen privacy-preserving research and technologies by funding a Research Coordination Network to advance rapid breakthroughs and commission work by the National Science Foundation with this network to promote the adoption of leading-edge privacy-preserving technologies by federal agencies.

• Evaluate how agencies collect and use commercially available information and strengthen privacy guidance for federal agencies to account for AI risks with focus on commercially available information containing personally identifiable data.

• Develop guidelines for federal agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of privacy-preserving techniques.

Equity and Civil Rights

• Guide landlords, Federal benefits programs, and federal contractors to keep AI algorithms from being used to exacerbate discrimination.

• Address algorithmic discrimination through training, technical assistance, and coordination between the Department of Justice and Federal civil rights offices on best practices for investigating and prosecuting civil rights violations related to AI.

• Ensure fairness throughout the criminal justice system by developing best practices on the use of AI in sentencing, parole, and probation, pretrial release and detention, risk assessments, surveillance, crime forecasting and predictive policing, and forensic analysis.

Consumers, Patients, and Students protections

• Advance the responsible use of AI in healthcare and the development of affordable and life-saving drugs. The Department of Health and Human Services will establish a safety program to receive reports of—and act to remedy – harms or unsafe healthcare practices involving AI. 

• Shape AI’s potential to transform education by creating resources to support educators deploying AI-enabled educational tools.

Workers’ Support

• Develop principles and best practices to mitigate the harms and maximize the benefits of AI for workers by addressing job displacement; labor standards; workplace equity, health, and safety; and data collection.

• Produce a report on AI’s potential labor-market impacts, and study and identify options for strengthening federal support for workers facing labor disruptions, including from AI.

Innovation and Competition

• Catalyze AI research across the United States through a pilot of the National AI Research Resource and expanded grants for AI research in areas like healthcare and climate change.

• Promote a fair, open, and competitive AI ecosystem by providing small developers and entrepreneurs access to technical assistance and resources, helping small businesses commercialize AI breakthroughs, and encouraging the Federal Trade Commission to exercise its authority.

• Use existing authorities to expand the ability of highly skilled immigrants and nonimmigrants with expertise in critical areas to study, stay, and work in the United States.

Global Leadership

• Expand bilateral, multilateral, and multistakeholder engagements to collaborate on AI to establish robust international frameworks for harnessing AI’s benefits managing its risks, and ensuring safety.

• Accelerate development and implementation of AI standards with international partners and in standards organizations, ensuring that the technology is safe, secure, trustworthy, and interoperable.

• Promote the safe, responsible, and rights-affirming development and deployment of AI abroad to solve global challenges, such as advancing sustainable development and mitigating dangers to critical infrastructure.

Let’s roll up the sleeves, much work lies ahead.