Artificial Intelligence In America

AI POLICY – UNITED STATES

Today going to tell you about Artificial Intelligence future in America, I hope you would like it.

American AI Initiative

On March 19, 2019, the US federal government launched AI.gov to make it easier to access all of the governmental AI initiatives currently underway. The site is the best single resource from which to gain a better understanding of US AI strategy.

US President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order launching the American AI Initiative on February 11, 2019. The Executive Order explained that the Federal Government plays an important role not only in facilitating AI R&D, but also in promoting trust, training people for a changing workforce, and protecting national interests, security, and values. And while the Executive Order emphasizes American leadership in AI, it is stressed that this requires enhancing collaboration with foreign partners and allies.

The American AI Initiative is guided by five principles, which include (in summarized form), the following: 1. Driving technological breakthroughs, 2. Driving the development of appropriate technical standards, 3. Training workers with the skills to develop and apply AI technologies, 4. Protecting American values including civil liberties and privacy and fostering public trust and confidence in AI technologies, 5. Protecting US technological advantage in AI, while promoting an international environment that supports innovation.

The Executive Order calls on the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence to coordinate the American AI Initiative. All executive departments and agencies that are developing or deploying AI, providing educational grants, or regulating or guiding AI are required to adhere to six strategic objectives. These objectives (in summarized form), include: promoting sustained investment in AI R&D; enhancing access to Federal data, models, and computing resources; reducing barriers to the use of AI technologies; ensuring that technical standards minimize vulnerability to attacks from malicious actors; training American AI researchers; and implementing an action plan to protect US economic and national security interests.

The heads of each agency are requested to increase focus on and budget for AI into the next Fiscal Year, and every year thereafter. They are also required to communicate their plans to achieve this prioritization to the OMB Director and the OSTP Director each fiscal year through the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program. Each agency will also be tasked with developing regulatory and non-regulatory approaches to guide AI development and use, following the release of a memorandum expected 180 days following the Executive Order. Moreover, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is tasked with creating a plan for Federal engagement in the development of technical standards to support reliable, robust, and trustworthy AI systems. NIST put out a Request for Information on the topic in May 2019, and the comments that were received can be viewed here.

The day after the Executive Order was released, the US Department of Defense followed up with the release of an unclassified summary of its own Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The U.S. Air Force released an Annex to this strategy to share its own 2019 Artificial Intelligence Strategy in September 2019.

International Collaboration

International engagement is a key pillar of the American AI Initiative.

In May 2019, the United States joined dozens of other countries in adopting the OECD AI Recommendation, the first intergovernmental standard for AI, which includes five complementary values-based principles and five recommendations to governments. The following month the US also joined the G20 countries in supporting the G20 AI Principles, which are drawn from the OECD Recommendation. In September 2019, the US Chamber of Commerce released Principles on Artificial Intelligence, which also endorse the OECD Recommendation and include a call for US businesses to abide by international standards.

Federal Funding Landscape

AI R&D is a top priority for the US and has enjoyed widely bipartisan support. In June 2019, the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence and the National Science and Technology Council released an updated version of the National AI R&D Strategic Plan, which includes eight strategies to guide the portfolio for Federal AI R&D investments. In September 2019, NITRD released a Supplement to the President’s FY2020 Budget, which provided the first agency-by-agency budget breakdown for non-defense AI R&D, showing a total budget of nearly $1 billion for the year.

In a July 31, 2018 memo from the Executive Office of the President, leadership in AI (along with “quantum information sciences and strategic computing”) is named the second highest R&D priority after the security of the American people for the fiscal year 2020. And on September 7, 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it will invest up to $2 billion over the next five years towards the advancement of AI. This is in addition to existing government spending on AI R&D, which totaled more than $2 billion in 2017 alone, just from unclassified programs and not including Pentagon and intelligence budgets. Existing funding has already propelled more than 20 active programs under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) exploring different aspects and uses of AI, and dozens of new projects have now been promised.

This funding followed the announcement of a National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which was made official with U.S. President Trump’s signing of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in August 2018. The Commission includes 15 members selected by different government officials and is tasked with the assessment of the national security implications of AI including the ethical considerations of AI in defense (the Commission released its Interim Report November 2019.) The Department of Defense (DoD) additionally established a Joint AI Center (JAIC) in July 2018 to explore the agency’s use of AI. The JAIC works on AI “National Mission Initiatives;” improving collaboration with the private sector, academia, and military allies; attracting AI talent and establishing an ethical framework for AI in defense; and aiding in the National Defense Strategy. The JAIC is tasked with carrying out the DoD’s AI Strategy. The Defense Innovation Board released AI Principles to provide ethical recommendations to the DoD in November 2019.

President Trump was also the first U.S. president to specifically name artificial intelligence as an Administration R&D priority in his 2019 Budget Request to Congress. AI was also featured for the first time in the 2018 National Security Strategy in relation to its role in helping the U.S. lead in technological innovation as well as its role in information statecraft, weaponization, and surveillance. It also shows up for the first time in the 2018  National Defense Strategy where it is described as one of the technologies that will change the character of war and give increasingly sophisticated capabilities to our adversaries, including non-state actors.

Other governmental initiatives are noteworthy as well. In July 2017, the Department of Homeland Security put out a report titled, “Artificial Intelligence Risk to Critical Infrastructure,” which analyzes narratives about AI to better understand the perception of benefits and threats from AI adoption.

White House Summit on AI and the AI Select Committee 

In May 2018, President Trump and the White House held a Summit on Artificial Intelligence for American Industry that included key technology companies. The White House also released a Fact Sheet titled, “Artificial Intelligence for the American People,” which highlighted the Trump Administration’s priorities for AI. Trump declared, “To the greatest degree possible, we will allow scientists and technologists to freely develop their next great inventions right here in the United States.” The priorities discussed were: funding AI research, removing regulatory barriers to the deployment of AI-powered technologies, training the future American workforce, achieving strategic military advantage, leveraging AI for government services, and working with allies to promote AI R&D.

The White House announced plans to help provide U.S. companies with new data sources, and to establish a Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence to help government agencies think about and use the technology, as well as consider partnerships with industry and academia. Notes from the Committee’s inaugural meeting June 27, 2018 can be found here. At the meeting, the Committee and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) approved the formation of a new Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Interagency Working Group (IWG) for AI R&D.  The IWG will serve as the coordinating body for Federal AI R&D investments and will report to both the NITRD Subcommittee and the Machine Learning and AI (MLAI) Subcommittee.

In September 2019, the White House held another AI Summit to address the use of AI in government. Key takeaways of the Summit included sharing learning between government, industry, and academia; developing a Center of Excellence model for government agencies to share AI expertise and best practices; and discussion of ways to build AI skills within the government workforce.

Source: Future of Life