AI Executive Order Finally Released

The Biden administration is unveiling an artificial intelligence (AI) executive order on Monday, October 30, 2023. The order will be released two days before government leaders, top Silicon Valley executives, and non-governmental groups gather for the U.K.’s AI Safety Summit 2023. It will be the U.S. government’s most significant attempt to date to regulate the evolving AI technology, according to an article in the Washington Post.

The order would require advanced AI models to undergo assessments before being used by federal workers. It would also ease barriers to immigration for engineers, software developers, and other highly skilled technology workers. In conjunction with the order, the Department of Homeland Security has announced it was proposing changes to the H-1B program, a visa program for high-skilled workers.

Federal government agencies — including the Defense Department, Energy Department, and intelligence agencies — would be required to run assessments to determine how they might incorporate AI into their agencies’ work, with a focus on bolstering national cyber defenses.

The order is expected to build on a set of voluntary commitments signed by 15 companies, including OpenAI, Google, Adobe, and chip maker Nvidia. The signed commitments were brokered by the White House in September.

The White House is taking executive action as the European Union (E.U.) and other governments are working to block the riskiest uses of artificial intelligence. Officials in Europe are expected to reach a deal by the end of the year on the E.U. AI Act, a wide-ranging package aiming to protect consumers from potentially dangerous applications of AI. Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress are still in the early stages of developing bipartisan legislation to respond to the technology.