White House Issues Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence

The White House recently issued an executive order (EO) on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence. The initiative mandates that federal agencies prioritize Artificial Intelligence (AI) through investments and other forms of technological support.

The EO stipulates five guiding principles for AI research and notes that, “Continued American leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States and to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nation’s values, policies, and priorities.” 

• The United States must drive technological breakthroughs in AI across the Federal Government, industry, and academia in order to promote scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and national security.
• The United States must drive development of appropriate technical standards and reduce barriers to the safe testing and deployment of AI technologies in order to enable the creation of new AI-related industries and the adoption of AI by today’s industries.
• The United States must train current and future generations of American workers with the skills to develop and apply AI technologies to prepare them for today’s economy and jobs of the future.
• The United States must foster public trust and confidence in AI technologies and protect civil liberties, privacy, and American values in their application in order to fully realize the potential of AI technologies for the American people.
• The United States must promote an international environment that supports American AI research and innovation and opens markets for American AI industries, while protecting our technological advantage in AI and protecting our critical AI technologies from acquisition by strategic competitors and adversarial nations.

The EO does not provide any additional funds for agencies to increase their AI activities, they must be funded from existing budgets. Over the next six months, Agency leaders will submit their plans for how they intend to fulfill these requirements.

To view the EO in full, click here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-maintaining-american-leadership-artificial-intelligence/

In support of the White House’s AI Initiative, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently released a “fact sheet” entitled America Will Dominate the Industries of the Future. The fact sheet presents ways in which the administration is focusing on bolstering the U.S.’s capabilities in the following four key technologies:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Quantum Information Science (QIS)
• 5G

The fact sheet argues that, “We must leverage the strength of our uniquely American R&D ecosystem, consisting of the Federal Government, private industry, colleges and universities, research institutions, and science philanthropies, to ensure American leadership in these industries.”

To view the fact sheet in full, click here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/america-will-dominate-industries-future/