The Most Significant AI Policy Developments in the United States in 2019

Source: Center for Data Innovation Published: Feb. 7, 2020

2019 was a monumental year for artificial intelligence (AI) policy in the United States. The federal government took several important steps that prioritized AI development and deployment and positioned the United States to strengthen its global AI leadership, beginning with President Trump’s “Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which set the tone for the rest of the year.

February 11: President Trump issued Executive Order 13859, “Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which launched the American AI Initiative, the official U.S. national AI strategy. The initiative includes five pillars: investing in AI research and development, making federal AI resources more available, setting standards for AI, training an AI workforce, and promoting a pro-innovation international environment. It prioritizes cooperation with the private sector, academia, the general public, and other countries. The executive order stresses the importance of “continued American leadership” in AI to “maintaining the economic and national security of the United States,” as President Trump wrote in a press release accompanying the order.

April 2: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a proposed regulatory framework for AI-based software as a medical device, including as a tool for disease detection, diagnosis, targeted therapies, or personalized medicine. As more medical devices incorporate AI to improve patient outcomes, the FDA plans to update its rules regarding premarket approval to keep up with technological innovation in the healthcare sector. In the premarket approval process, medical device manufacturers must demonstrate to the FDA that a device is safe and effective in order to market the device in the United States.

May 22: The United States, along with the OECD’s thirty-five other member countries and six non-member countries, signed the OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence. The principles include inclusivity and sustainability, human-centered values and fairness, transparency and explainability, security and safety, and accountability. The OECD recommends that signatory governments invest in AI research and development, promote digital technologies and infrastructure and mechanisms for sharing data, foster pro-innovation policy environments, prepare for workforce transitions, and cooperate on international initiatives. OECD recommendations like the Principles on Artificial Intelligence are not legally binding, but they set an international standard that governments use to inspire their own national efforts.

June 21: The White House National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released its 2019 update to “The National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan,” which builds upon the first principle of Executive Order 13859, investing in AI research and development. The plan identifies eight strategic priorities for the United States, seven of which were carried over from previous updates and the eighth of which is a new addition. The priorities emphasize long-term investments, the future of work, ethics, security, access to data, technical standards, the research and development workforce, and public-private partnerships.

July 10: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a request for information that gave the public thirty days to comment on the “needs for additional access to, or improvements in the quality of, Federal data and models that would improve the Nation’s artificial intelligence (AI) research and development (R&D) and testing efforts.” Executive Order 13859 required the OMB to publish this notice within ninety days of the date of the order.

July 31: The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) released an initial report outlining early activity to survey U.S. leadership in AI. Congress established the NSCAI with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 to advance the development of AI and address related national security and defense needs. In the first half of 2019, the NSCAI worked on issues including maintaining U.S. leadership in AI research and national security applications, preparing the American workforce for an AI-enabled future, and enhancing international competitiveness and cooperation in AI.

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Chelsea McCullough