US adopts Executive Order in AI with privacy standards

US President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) yesterday that seeks to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems. The EO requires that developers of the most powerful AI systems share their safety test results and other critical information with the US government to avoid serious risks to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety.

The President also calls for federal level privacy legislation, addresses algorithmic discrimination, and requires a report on AI’s potential impacts on the labour market.

The US Department of Commerce will play a key role in implementing the EO.

Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, said: “Building on the voluntary commitments secured from leading American companies earlier this year, the President is taking a critical step forward to facilitate and incentivize safe and responsible innovation in AI.”

Raimondo will attend the UK government organised intergovernmental AI Safety Summit 1-2 November, where China has also been invited. The EU Commission’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, will be in attendance too. The EU AI Act is at its last stages and expected to be adopted soon.

See:

• The White House - President Biden Issues Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence
• U.S. Department of Commerce - Department of Commerce to Undertake Key Responsibilities in Historic Artificial Intelligence Executive Order