Accelerating AI Innovation

Forbes Leadership CIO Network How Policymakers Can Accelerate AI Innovation Gordon Bitko Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I lead public sector tech policy for ITI and was the FBI’s CIO. Following May 23, 2023, 02:55pm EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Lawmakers, government officials, and business leaders across the globe are wrestling with policy .

. . [+] questions about the future of this transformative technology.

getty As artificial intelligence (AI) dominates the headlines, lawmakers, government officials, and business leaders across the globe are wrestling with questions about the right future policy for this transformative technology. As the former Chief Information Officer of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), I have seen firsthand the necessity of emerging technologies like AI to equip the federal government’s critical agencies with the tools to keep America safe and prosperous. I am also intimately aware of the challenges and risks of using technologies that have the potential to be overly intrusive.

And in my current role, I have witnessed how inertia, an outdated mindset, and bureaucratic silos hold back effective and modern government. To ensure the U. S.

government can enable and leverage AI to its full potential and mitigate the real risks, it’s imperative that policymakers and agency leaders work hand-in-hand with industry to focus on policies that promote rather than hinder AI innovation while recognizing the potential risks and allow AI to serve as the next technological driver of the American economy. Does Promoting U. S.

AI Innovation Require a New Bureau? Consistency within regulatory frameworks promotes innovation while safeguarding the interests of U. S. consumers and businesses.

At the recent AI hearing , both witnesses and members of Congress suggested that having a new regulatory Bureau of AI was the solution to this problem. Creating such a new agency is a complex and time-consuming endeavor that would face many challenges. AI, in one form or another, is already widely used in many industrial sectors globally and in the U.

S. , including some that are highly regulated and monitored by existing entities that are unlikely or unable to concede those oversight responsibilities. If the U.

S. Congress were to move forward with such a plan, the United States would likely end up with a new agency that has authority over AI issues but does not supersede the individual responsibilities that many existing agencies have over critical sectors of the American economy, such as the Treasury Department for the financial services sector and the Department of Energy for the energy sector. Because of those siloed responsibilities, this new approach will introduce further bureaucracy and confusion to the realm of AI policy.

A likely outcome is duplicative or even contradictory requirements that only slow down innovation at a time when global competition makes it imperative that we move forward. Before undertaking such a costly and time-consuming effort, the U. S.

Congress and the Biden Administration should assess existing legal frameworks and authorities, and look to existing recommendations for U. S. and global policymakers and best practices, such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework .

By closely examining current standards and laws within the United States and internationally, lawmakers can identify gaps that must be addressed. Lawmakers should focus on supporting innovation and investment in AI technologies to advance tomorrow’s workforce by leveraging voluntary international standards as a baseline for legislative approaches to AI governance. These resources empower policymakers to capitalize on the momentum around AI and advance U.

S. competitiveness. It’s critical that as lawmakers look to regulation they take a risk-based approach that allows for the broadest possible uses and leverage the deep technical expertise and emerging technology knowledge of the private sector.

By allowing and even encouraging such broad use, U. S. policymakers will ensure that American innovators maintain a global advantage, especially when compared to AI systems and models that are artificially constrained by government requirements and control.

AI Can Modernize Government Services AI presents immense opportunities for government employees and contractors, including technologists and security specialists, to modernize their operations and strengthen government supply chains. Today, a government agency that wants to modernize its citizen-services has a complex and often unsolvable problem on its hands. At the same time, it must keep its current systems and services in place, figure out how to staff, fund and develop new systems that maintain all the capabilities of those old systems while also meeting modern requirements such as for cybersecurity and performance, integrate data from many legacy sources and systems, along with a host of agency specific requirements.

Well-developed and trained AI systems present a solution to this thorny problem. Much like the new generative AI tools are quickly revolutionizing web searching, an agency can deploy secure and modern AI solutions that rapidly improve citizen services, on top of the legacy systems and data. If government agencies are empowered to use these new tools, while still ensuring that they comply with already existing requirements to protect data, they can rapidly streamline processes, enhance user experience, and deliver improved decision-making.

These outcomes can be achieved by jointly working with industry, and through existing mechanisms for identifying and managing risk, to establish AI usage policies that strike the right balance between the enormous benefits of modernization with the very real privacy and security concerns. A Path Forward The U. S.

government can secure its competitive edge by capitalizing on AI’s momentum and fostering responsible AI innovation. Spurring innovation, federal funding and acquisition, and multi-stakeholder partnerships across various AI solutions will solidify the U. S.

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