Summary of President Biden’s AI Executive Order
In what has definitely been the biggest news in government IT all year, President Biden’s recent Executive Order (EO) on the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a wide-range of details that need to be considered.
As the EO is nearly 100 pages in length, the Makpar Innovation Lab team has taken the time to develop this summary of all the key highlights of the EO. In the coming weeks, the team will provide a more in-depth analysis on the opportunities and implications of the EO.
The Purpose of the EO: The EO highlights how AI holds extraordinary potential but also peril. Responsible AI use can help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. But at the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms, displace and disempower workers, stifle competition, and pose risks to national security.
Policy and Principles: Following are the eight guiding principles and priorities in advancing and governing the development and use of AI in the EO:
Artificial Intelligence must be safe and secure.
Promoting responsible innovation, competition, and collaboration will allow the United States to lead in AI and unlock the technology's potential to solve some of society's most difficult challenges.
The responsible development and use of AI require a commitment to supporting American workers.
Artificial Intelligence policies must be consistent with my Administration's dedication to advancing equity and civil rights.
The interests of Americans who increasingly use, interact with, or purchase AI and AI-enabled products in their daily lives must be protected.
Americans' privacy and civil liberties must be protected as AI continues advancing.
It is important to manage the risks from the Federal Government's own use of AI and increase its internal capacity to regulate, govern, and support responsible use of AI to deliver better results for Americans.
The Federal Government should lead the way to global societal, economic, and technological progress, as the United States has in previous eras of disruptive innovation and change.
Ensuring the Safety and Security of AI Technology: This section focuses on the key guidelines required for the safe and secure use of AI. This includes developing standards and best practices for AI safety and security in accordance with the Defense Production Act.
In addition, effectively managing AI should ensure the protection of critical infrastructure, reduce the risk of AI being misused to assist in the development or use of CBRN threats – with a particular focus on biological weapons. The EO also calls for reducing the risks posed by synthetic content to establish the authenticity and provenance of digital content produced by the Federal Government or on its behalf.
This section also highlights the need to solicit input on dual-use foundation models with widely available model weights, preventing the malicious use of federal data for AI training and calls for an interagency process with the purpose of developing and submitting a proposed National Security Memorandum on AI to the President.
Promoting Innovation and Competition: This section calls for the need to attract AI talent to the United States, public-private partnerships for safely advancing AI, as well as promoting competition while taking steps to stop unlawful collusion and prevent dominant firms from disadvantaging competitors. It also calls to provide new opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Supporting Workers: This section covers key parts to advance the understanding of Al's implications for U.S. workers, which includes work disruptions, as well as employee wellbeing and education. The key goal is to foster a diverse AI-ready workforce.
Advancing Equity and Civil Rights: A key part of this section addresses unlawful discrimination and other harms that may be exacerbated by AI. As such, agencies shall use their respective civil rights and civil liberties offices and authorities to prevent and address it.
Protecting Consumers, Patients, Passengers, and Students: Regulatory agencies are encouraged to
to protect American consumers from fraud, discrimination, and threats to privacy and to address other risks that may arise from the use of AI.
Advancing Federal Government Use of AI: This section highlights how the OMB will convene and chair an interagency council to coordinate the development and use of AI in agencies' programs and operations. It also calls for planning around a national surge in AI talent in the federal government.
Strengthening American Leadership Abroad: This section calls for the strengthening of U.S. leadership around the global efforts to unlock AI's potential and meet its challenges.
Finally, the OE highlighted the establishment of the White House Artificial Intelligence Council (White House AI Council) to coordinate the activities of agencies across government to ensure the effective formulation, development, and communication around the implementation of AI-related policies.
Over the past year, Makpar has been developing content around the benefits and concerns around AI in government, an early and candid take on ChatGPT, as well as the rise of the age of augmentation. Stay tuned for more analysis and insights around the AI Executive Order.
If you would like to learn more about how Makpar can help your agency develop the most comprehensive AI solutions for enhancing mission success, please contact us here.