Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled an AI national security memo to preserve the U.S. competitive edge against China.
Why it matters: AI is advancing at breakneck speed, and government agencies need guidance on how to adopt the technology responsibly.
State of play: The administration's AI executive order called for the creation of the national security memorandum.
- Most of the memo is unclassified.
- There's also a classified annex that primarily addresses adversary threats, senior administration officials told reporters.
What's inside: The memo serves as a formal charter for the U.S. AI Safety Institute.
- It says the U.S. should lead in setting the standards for international AI governance.
- It directs agencies to procure the most powerful AI systems to achieve national security objectives, such as cybersecurity, counterintelligence and logistics that support military applications.
According to a fact sheet, the memo also:
- Pushes to improve the security and diversity of chip supply chains
- Prioritizes collecting competitors' operations against the U.S. AI sector
- "Doubles down" on the National AI Research Resource
The National Security Council is publishing a Framework for AI Governance as a companion document that states how agencies can and cannot use AI.
- The framework identifies prohibited and high-impact AI use cases based on the risk they pose to national security, international norms, democratic values, human rights, civil rights and privacy.
- For example, the use of AI to suppress free speech or the right to legal counsel would be prohibited.
- It would also be prohibited to remove a human in the loop for actions critical to informing and executing decisions by the president to initiate the use of nuclear weapons.
What they're saying: "With a lack of policy clarity and a lack of legal clarity about what can and cannot be done, we are likely to see less experimentation and less adoption than with a clear path for use, which is what the [memo] and the framework tries to provide," a senior administration official said.
What's next: The Biden administration's AI EO is coming up on its first anniversary. We'll let you know more about the key deadlines and reporting requirements for agencies next week.
