Biden-Harris Administration Announces Key AI Actions 180 Days After Bidens Historic Executive Order | The White House

Six months ago, President Biden issued a historic executive order to ensure that the United States leads the way in harnessing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). Since then, agencies across government have taken vital steps to manage the safety and security risks of AI, protect Americans’ privacy, advance fairness and civil rights, defend consumers and workers, promoting innovation and competition, advancing American leadership around the world, and more. .

Today, federal agencies reported that they completed all 180-day actions in the EO on schedule, following their recent successes in completing each 90-day, 120-day, and 150-day action on time. Agencies also made progress on other work mandated by the EO over longer periods of time.

The actions that the agencies reported today as complete include the following:

Safety and Security Risk Management:
For 180 days, the Executive Order directed agencies to address a wide range of AI safety and security risks, including risks related to hazardous biological materials, critical infrastructure, and software vulnerabilities. To mitigate these and other security threats, agencies must:

• It established a framework for nucleic acid synthesis screening to help prevent the misuse of AI to engineer hazardous biological materials. This work complements the in-depth study by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Office of Science and Technology Policy on the potential for misuse of AI for this purpose, as well such as a DHS report recommending mitigations for the misuse of AI to exacerbate chemical and biological threats. In parallel, the Department of Commerce has worked to engage the private sector to develop technical guidance to facilitate implementation. Beginning 180 days after the framework is announced, agencies will require grantees to obtain synthetic nucleic acids from screening providers.
• Draft documents on generative AI risk management, the safe development of generative AI systems and dual-use base models, expanding the development of international standards in AI, and the reduction of risks posed by content generated by AI. When finalized, these National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) documents will provide additional guidance that builds on NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework, which provided individuals, organizations, and society with a framework to manage AI risks and has been widely adopted both in the US and globally.
• He developed the first AI safety and security guidelines for owners and operators of critical infrastructure. These guidelines are based on the work done by nine agencies to assess AI risks in the sixteen critical infrastructure sectors.
• The AI ​​Safety and Security Board was launched to advise the Secretary of Homeland Security, the critical infrastructure community, other private sector stakeholders, and the general public on the safe and secure development and deployment of AI technology in our countries’ critical infrastructure. The Boards’ inaugural 22 members include representatives from a variety of sectors, including executives from software and hardware companies, critical infrastructure operators, public officials, the civil rights community and academia.
• Piloted new AI tools to identify vulnerabilities in vital government software systems. The Department of Defense (DoD) advanced a pilot for AI that can find and address vulnerabilities in software used for military and national security purposes. Complementary to DoD’s efforts, DHS piloted various tools to identify and close vulnerabilities in other critical government software systems that Americans rely on every day.

We stand up for workers, consumers and civil rights
The Executive Order directed bold steps to mitigate other AI risks, including risks to Americans’ workers, consumers, and civil rights, and ensure that the development and deployment of AI benefits all Americans americans Today, the agencies reported that they have:

• Fundamental principles and practices have been developed for employers and developers to build and deploy AI safely and in ways that empower workers. Agencies across the government are now beginning to work to establish these practices as requirements, where appropriate and authorized by law, for employers receiving federal funding.
• Guidance published to help federal contractors and employers comply with worker protection laws while deploying AI in the workplace. The Department of Labor (DOL) developed a guide for federal contractors and subcontractors to answer questions and share promising practices to clarify federal contractors’ legal obligations, promote equal employment opportunity, and mitigate the potentially harmful impacts of AI on labor decisions. DOL also provided guidance on enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal labor standards as employers increasingly use AI and other automated technologies in the workplace.
• Published resources for job seekers, workers, and technology marketers and creators on how the use of AI could violate employment discrimination laws. Resources from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission make it clear that existing laws apply to the use of AI and other new technologies in employment as they apply to other employment practices.
• Publication of guidelines on the non-discriminatory use of AI in the housing sector. In two guidance documents, the Department of Housing and Urban Development stated that existing prohibitions against discrimination apply to the use of AI for tenant screening and advertising of housing opportunities, and explained how deployers of AI tools can meet these obligations.
• Published guidelines and principles that set the bar for the responsible and equitable use of AI in the administration of public benefit programs. The Department of Agriculture’s guidance explains how state, local, tribal and territorial governments should manage risks for the uses of AI and automated systems in benefit programs like SNAP. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a plan with guidelines on similar topics for the benefit programs it oversees. The two agency documents prescribe actions that align with the Office of Management and Budget’s policies, released last month, for federal agencies to manage risks in their own use of AI and reap the benefits of AI. i.a.
• A final rule has been announced that clarifies that nondiscrimination requirements in health programs and activities continue to apply to the use of AI, clinical algorithms, predictive analytics, and other tools. Specifically, the rule applies the nondiscrimination principles of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to the use of patient care decision support tools in clinical care, and requires that the subject to the rule take steps to identify and mitigate discrimination when using AI and other forms of decision support tools for care.
• He developed a strategy to ensure the safety and effectiveness of AI deployed in the healthcare sector. The strategy outlines rigorous frameworks for AI testing and evaluation, and outlines future actions for HHS to promote the responsible development and deployment of AI.

Harnessing AI for good
President Bidens Executive Order also directed work to harness the enormous promise of AI, including advancing the use of AI for scientific research, deepening collaboration with the private sector, and piloting the uses of the AI. Over the past 180 days, agencies have done the following:

• The DOE has been announced financing opportunities to support the application of AI for scienceincluding energy-efficient AI algorithms and hardware.
• Meetings planned for the coming months with utilities, clean energy developers, data center owners and operators, and regulators in localities experiencing large load growth. Today, DOE announced new actions to assess AI’s potential energy opportunities and challenges, accelerate clean energy deployment, and advance AI innovation to manage AI’s growing energy demand.
• Pilots, partnerships and new AI tools have been launched to address energy challenges and advance clean energy. For example, DOE is testing AI tools to streamline permitting processes and improve siting of clean energy infrastructure, and has developed other powerful AI tools with applications at the intersection of energy, the science and security. Today, DOE also released a report outlining the opportunities AI offers to advance the clean energy economy and modernize the electric grid.
• It began a sustained effort to analyze the potential risks that the deployment of AI may pose to the network. DOE has begun the process of convening energy officials and technical experts over the next few months to collaboratively assess potential risks to the grid, as well as ways AI could strengthen grid resiliency and our ability to respond to threats based on a new public assessment.
• He authored a report on the role of AI in advancing scientific research to help address society’s major challenges, written by the Council of Presidents of Advisors in Science and Technology.

Bringing AI talent to government
The AI ​​and Tech Talent Task Force has made substantial progress in hiring through the AI ​​Talent Surge. Since President Biden signed the EO, federal agencies have hired more than 150 AI-enabling professionals and, along with tech talent programs, are on track to hire hundreds more by the summer of 2024. People hired so far are already working on critical AI missions. such as informing efforts to use AI to enable, advise on AI investments across the federal government, and write policy for the use of AI in government.