The White House hopes to guide how technologists develop artificial intelligence and how the government prompts and adopts AI tools, under a new executive order to be unveiled Monday. The order lays out basic safety rules to prevent AI-enabled consumer fraud, requires red-team testing of AI software for safety, and issues guidance on privacy protections. It also pursues new multilateral agreements on AI safety with partner nations and accelerates AI adoption within the government.
The order comes amid growing public concern about the effects of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence tools on public life, the future of employment, education, and more. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed called the order “the next step in an aggressive strategy to do everything on all fronts to harness the benefits of AI and mitigate the risks.”
On safety, the order directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, to draft standards for red-team exercises to test the safety of AI tools before they’re released. It also establishes a new cyber security program to explore how AI could lead to attacks and calls for the development of practices for detecting AI-generated content that could be used for fraud or disinformation.
The order also calls on the National Science Foundation to further develop cryptographic tools and other technologies to protect personal and private data that could be collected by AI tools. It sets guidelines to prevent organizations and institutions from using AI in discriminatory ways and calls for more research on AI’s effects on the labor force.
The order also looks at how the government can better embrace AI and form new bonds and working strategies with like-minded democratic nations to do so. The administration has already consulted widely on AI governance frameworks and plans to work with Congress to pursue bipartisan legislation to help America lead the way in responsible innovation.
Gary Marcus, a neuroscientist, author, and AI entrepreneur, described the move as a positive step, but he worries enforcement might be lacking. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology think tank, said some of the proposed fixes the White House outlined don’t exist yet, and will be difficult to create.
