President Biden’s Executive Order on AI

On October 30, 2023, the Biden Administration issued the groundbreaking Executive Order 14110 on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (Order), which sets in motion a comprehensive US strategy for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). The broad ranging and robust Order directs US executive departments and agencies to develop standards, frameworks and best practices in anticipation of using their existing authorities to regulate AI. Agencies must take specific steps on virtually every federal law, regulation, and policy that bears on the responsible use of AI.

While recognizing the benefits that can be derived from the use of AI, the Order highlights the numerous known risks associated with AI’s potential misuse, ranging from damage to national security, critical infrastructure and privacy to fraud, discrimination and bias to disinformation, and concern over workforce displacement and the stifling of competition. The Order places urgency on advancing a set of principles, standards, and priorities designed to strike a balance between the need to encourage innovation and the need to build effective guardrails to protect against societal harms and ensure the safe and secure development and use of AI.

The potential impacts of AI on critical infrastructure is a key focus of the Order. It mandates that federal agencies evaluate and assess potential risks related to AI use in those critical infrastructure sectors that they regulate. Critical infrastructure includes systems and assets vital to the United States’ security, economy, public health, and safety.

The Order also requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to set standards for extensive red-team testing to ensure AI safety before public release. These standards will apply to critical infrastructure sectors.

At its core the Order recognizes that AI is a global technology and that there is a strong need to develop, with international allies, a framework to both manage AI’s risks and unleash its benefits.