After months of speculation about how the government will seek to regulate AI tools, the Biden administration let slip plans to unveil an AI executive order on the topic.
The executive order is timed in advance of a global summit on the topic in the UK next week.
While the administration can’t specifically regulate the use of the tech by businesses, Biden is using the clout of the government which collectively is the largest single user of technology in the country to lay out some ground rules.
The executive order will mandate assessments on the underlying data sets for all AI use for government entities.
There is a specific focus on how AI is being used currently and in the future by the Department of Defense, the intelligence communities, and the Department of Energy.
The White House will host an event on October 30th called “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence” where it is expected President Biden will announce the Executive Order.
Next week’s UK summit is focused on the risks inherent with so-called Frontier AI defined as “highly capable general-purpose AI models, most often foundation models, that can perform a wide variety of tasks and match or exceed the capabilities present in today’s most advanced models.”
The Biden order follows the testimony in front of Congress in September by several tech giants including Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai pleading for regulatory oversight of AI.
While actual laws on the topic are not expected any time soon, the Biden Executive Order is a small step in the direction of government oversight, particularly in areas surrounding national security.
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