Mohar Chatterjee and Rebecca Kern:

The White House is poised to make an all-hands effort to impose national rules on a fast-moving technology, according to a draft executive order.

President Joe Biden will deploy numerous federal agencies to monitor the risks of artificial intelligence and develop new uses for the technology while attempting to protect workers, according to a draft executive order obtained by POLITICO.

The order, expected to be issued as soon as Monday, would streamline high-skilled immigration, create a raft of new government offices and task forces and pave the way for the use of more AI in nearly every facet of life touched by the federal government, from health care to education, trade to housing, and more.

At the same time, the Oct. 23 draft order calls for extensive new checks on the technology, directing agencies to set standards to ensure data privacy and cybersecurity, prevent discrimination, enforce fairness and also closely monitor the competitive landscape of a fast-growing industry. The draft order was verified by multiple people who have seen or been consulted on draft copies of the document.

The White House did not reply to a request to confirm the draft.

Though the order does not have the force of law and previous White House AI efforts have been criticized for lacking enforcement teeth, the new guidelines will give federal agencies influence in the US market through their buying power and their enforcement tools. Biden’s order specifically directs the Federal Trade Commission, for instance, to focus on anti-competitive behavior and consumer harms in the AI industry — a mission that Chair Lina Khan has already publicly embraced.

———

President Biden has signed an executive order that will require AI companies to “address algorithmic discrimination” and “ensure that AI advances equity.” They want to embed the principles of CRT and DEI into every aspect of AI.

Permissionless Innovation: The Continuing Case for Comprehensive Technological Freedom, and.

“Fiscal indulgences”

Imagine a computer code Ibram Kendi installed directly into your operating system, forever.

This is a terrible tech policy document. The noise made by some closed AI companies around simple word calculators taking over the world has now led to a regulatory regime which functionally makes it tougher for newer entrants, in both closed and open source AI worlds. This is the textbook definition of regulatory capture playing out (cc @bgurley). Some red flags:

It mostly demands a lot of reports, almost entirely from within the government.

  1. A lot of government employees will be writing a lot of reports.
  2. After they get those reports, others will then write additional reports.
  3. There will also be a lot of government meetings.
  4. These reports will propose paths forward to deal with a variety of AI issues.
  5. These reports indicate which agencies may get jurisdiction on various AI issues.
  6. Which reports are requested indicates what concerns are most prominent now.
    1. A major goal is to get AI experts into government, and get government in a place where it can implement the use of AI, and AI talent into the USA.
    2. Another major goal is ensuring the safety of cutting-edge foundation (or ‘dual use’) models, starting with knowing which ones are being trained and what safety precautions are being taken.
    3. Other ultimate goals include: Protecting vital infrastructure and cybersecurity, safeguarding privacy, preventing discrimination in many domains, protecting workers, guarding against misuse, guarding against fraud, ensuring identification of AI content, integrating AI into education and healthcare and promoting AI research and American global leadership.