Biden Administration Issues Directive to Address Multiple Threats with AI

President Joe Biden is set to sign an extensive executive order that regulates the utilization of artificial intelligence by federal agencies, as per a draft copy obtained by Bloomberg Government. This move represents his most substantial action thus far in tackling the potential hazards associated with this advancing technology.

The 111-page draft, dated Oct. 23, uses the government’s position as a top client of tech companies such as Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc to push for changes in their AI products by requiring developers of powerful AI systems to report. its training and testing process to the federal government.

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The order, which is expected to be issued on Monday, comes with a mix of fear and excitement over the rapid development of artificial intelligence, which has thrust the technology into the spotlight. With the explosion of generative AIs—large models of language that can produce text, visuals, and audio almost instantly—Americans have tools at their fingertips for writing speeches, planning meals, and speeding up research, among other applications.

Tech industry leaders, the national security community, advocacy groups, and others in the public and private sectors have called on the government to act urgently to reduce AI’s risks to privacy, misinformation, discrimination, and job displacement. Federal leaders have shown a strong willingness to set rules that protect Americans from the worst dangers of technology, but a broad response has yet to emerge.

Biden’s directive aims to promote the safe and responsible deployment of artificial intelligence with a government-wide strategy. In the meantime, lawmakers in Congress are still working to craft rules that will create guardrails while promoting technology’s potential to drive innovation.

Hiring, discrimination

Under the draft text, the Labor Department would be directed to examine federal agencies’ support for workers displaced by AI and draft guidelines for federal contractors to prevent discrimination in AI-driven hiring systems — a major concern of civil rights groups and the Biden administration. . The White House would also direct the attorney general to coordinate with agencies to enforce and enforce existing civil rights violations and discrimination laws.

The draft order also encourages the Federal Communications Commission to consider using artificial intelligence to block unwanted robocalls and text messages, and urges immigration officials to streamline visa requirements for foreign workers with AI expertise. It would also urge White House officials to convene an artificial intelligence and technology talent task force for the federal government.

Privacy, Security

Privacy is also expected to be a key focus of the executive order, which will introduce safeguards requiring disclosure of how federal agencies use artificial intelligence technology to collect or use citizens’ data, according to the draft.

The long-awaited order follows more than a dozen leading AI companies, including Microsoft, Meta, Google and OpenAI, offering voluntary commitments over the summer to safely deploy AI, as well as the government’s AI “Bill of Rights” plan document, rights. -based framework for the safe development and use of artificial intelligence, published last fall. It also comes as the United States seeks to maintain its competitive edge in artificial intelligence, especially as China competes to become the world leader in the technology.

The president is set to sign a sweeping AI executive order just days before Vice President Kamala Harris and industry leaders attend a summit on AI risks in the UK led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The directive gives him concrete AI-related actions to publicize worldwide, as the European Union and China overtake the US in developing the technology’s regulation.

The White House declined to comment.

Focus on the risks

The order is expected to address a range of AI risks related to cybersecurity, defense, health, labor, energy, education, public interest and other issues within the agency’s purview, and will support a number of task forces and offices to develop strategies for the use of AI. .

It seeks to combat the harms caused by generative AI by directing agencies to identify tools for monitoring, authenticating, flagging, and auditing AI-generated content, and to prevent the spread of AI-generated child sexual exploitation material and non-consensual intimacies. visual features of individuals.

The draft would direct the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to develop and deploy artificial intelligence capabilities to help detect and repair vulnerabilities in critical U.S. infrastructure and software. DHS would also be responsible for assessing the potential misuse of artificial intelligence to develop biological weapons.

Officials would also be directed to examine agency support for AI-displaced workers and draft guidelines for federal contractors to prevent discrimination in AI-driven hiring systems. The details of the expected principles are based on the concerns of civil society and industry experts about the potential of technology to replace certain career paths and create opportunities.

Under the draft order, federal agencies must work to prevent illegal discrimination that occurs through the use of artificial intelligence in hiring, which has been a top technology priority for the Biden administration.

Insurance, financial products

Within 180 days, the Secretary of Labor must publish guidelines for federal contractors on nondiscrimination when hiring artificial intelligence and other technology-based hiring systems. The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are also being forced to take action, as necessary, to address the bias caused by the use of an AI tool to underwrite loans and sell other financial products.

The draft EO also lays out safeguards to ensure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against as a result of the use of artificial intelligence, including the use of biometric data such as gaze direction, gaze tracking, gait analysis and hand movements. In addition, the order is expected to introduce privacy protections that require disclosure of how federal agencies use artificial intelligence technology to collect or use citizens’ data.

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