What Biden’s New Executive Order Could Mean For The Future Of AI

Forbes Leadership Leadership Strategy What Biden’s New Executive Order Could Mean For The Future Of AI Edward Segal Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover crisis-related news, issues and topics. Following Oct 30, 2023, 04:20pm EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The executive order that President Joe Biden signed today concerning artificial intelligence is the .

. . [+] federal government’s attempt to help regulate and place controls on this rapidly evolving technology.

getty The executive order that President Joe Biden signed today concerning artificial intelligence is the federal government’s attempt to help regulate and place controls on this rapidly evolving and growing technology. The measure marks “the U. S.

government’s most ambitious attempt to spur innovation and address concerns the burgeoning technology could exacerbate bias, displace workers and undermine national security,” according to the Washington Post . Firms in the U. S.

and Canada are projected to invest $5. 6 billion in generative AI projects—those that can create text, images and other media—in the next 12 months, according to the 2023 Generative AI Radar report from Infosys. Trying To Control A Fast-Growing Industry Biden’s executive order is directed “at numerous government agencies to create regulations overseeing AI,” Eric von Vorys an attorney who specializes in AI and intellectual property issues at the Shulman Rogers law firm, said via email.

It would also create “new standards to (among other things) safeguard data privacy and cybersecurity, strengthen national security, and administer governmental standards in order to try to control a fast-growing industry, he noted. MORE FOR YOU Biden’s New Executive Order Will Regulate AI Models That Could Threaten National Security White House Unveils Sweeping AI Strategy As Biden Pushes For Transparency And Safety AI Startups Fear That Biden’s AI Executive Order Could Stifle Innovation But the executive order “is not a law. I haven’t heard that Congress has any plans to pass any similar laws,” von Vorys observed.

Funding For Research “Perhaps the most significant contribution of the executive order is dedicating funding for research into privacy-preserving technologies with AI,” according to Jake Williams , a member of IANS research, a Boston-based cybersecurity and advisory firm, said via email. “The Biden executive order makes it clear: privacy, equity, and civil rights in AI will be regulated. In the startup world of ‘move fast and break things,’ where technology often outpaces regulation, this executive order sends a clear message on the areas [where] startups should expect more regulation in the AI space,” he noted.

The executive order that President Joe Biden signed today concerning artificial intelligence is the . . .

[+] federal government’s attempt to help regulate and place controls on this rapidly evolving technology. getty A Push For Global Cooperation The measure “pushes for global cooperation in AI which is critically important,” James Hendler , chair of the Global Technology Policy Council of the Association for Computing Machinery, said via email. “The UN has recently announced an international panel of experts looking at AI policy, including representatives of countries with many different types of government regimes, and this order should reinforce U.

S. awareness of activities such as these,” he pointed out. Impact The federal government “is the largest procurer of vendor services in the U.

S. ,” Dominique Shelton Leipzig, a partner and cybersecurity and data privacy leader with Mayer Brown, said via email. Today’s executive order “will directly impact trillions of dollars in government contracts.

It goes well beyond IT to include life sciences,, defense contracts, landlords and more. To give a sense of scale, the government spent $2 trillion on IT services alone last year,” she pointed out. If a company “is (1) a recipient of federal funds; (2) part of critical infrastructure (health, financial, energy, food supply); (3) a government contractor; or (4) a supplier to any of [these] companies…their leaders need to pay attention,” Leipzig advised.

‘Provides Little Direction’ “Rather than proposing regulation or specific actions…the order is mainly a call to action for different departments to start the process of formulating regulations and guidelines for AI,” Kjell Carlsson , the head of data science strategy at Domino Data Lab, said via email. “The order provides little direction on what regulation may look like, what the time frame would be for its implementation, or, indeed if regulation will be the ultimate outcome,” he commented. What’s Really Needed “The U.

S. lags behind the EU and even China in the regulation of AI,” Stephen J. Andriole, the Thomas G.

Labrecque Professor of Business Technology at Villanova University’s School of Business, said via email. “Executive orders are fine, but what’s required is a more comprehensive set of enforceable regulations that protects privacy and guards against misinformation and disinformation at the very least. “While it’s great to try to show the private sector how to manage its approach to AI management, there’s not much evidence that voluntary commitments or self-governance work,” he concluded.

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