Feature
President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) is intended to encourage the development of AI while protecting people and society from its potential risks. “We are more than capable of harnessing AI for justice, security and opportunity for all,” says the “Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
AI technology comes with serious potential for harm in many areas: fraud, misinformation, national security, labor, education and bias in hiring, financial assistance and housing. To harness AI’s power while mitigating the risks, the order tasks several federal agencies with creating guidelines, checks and balances in the development and use of AI. “This endeavor demands a society-wide effort that includes government, the private sector, academia and civil society,” the order says.
What is the Executive Order on AI?
The order offers eight guiding principles: to help ensure AI is safe and secure; promote responsible innovation, competition and collaboration; ensure its responsible development and use; guarantee equity and civil rights in AI policies; protect the interests of the American people; safeguard privacy and civil liberties; regulate the federal government’s use of AI; and work toward global societal, economic and technological progress.
“The order reflects the Biden administration’s desire to make AI more secure and to cement U.S. leadership in global AI policy ahead of other attempts to regulate AI,” says a briefing issued by the Sidley law firm. Without an act by the U.S. Congress, the executive order is the broadest U.S. guidance on AI and its growth.
Without guardrails, AI has the potential to do harm to the most vulnerable people in society and society itself. Yet, it offers such enormous potential that we, as a nation, don’t want to flounder in its development.
To encourage its safe and ethical development, the order directs federal agencies to invest in AI research and development, establish guidelines for trustworthy and responsible AI, promote public-private partnerships and foster international cooperation. The order also creates a new White House office to coordinate AI policy across the government and sets up an inter-agency committee to advise on AI issues. The order does not have the force of law, but it is the most complete U.S. policy on AI to date. It clearly signals that the Biden administration is committed to advancing AI governance and innovation — and protecting consumers from the risks the technology poses.
The order outlines a set of principles and actions for federal agencies to follow when developing, acquiring, using or regulating AI systems and a list of tasks — over 100, according to the law firm Mayer Brown — to complete to ensure the safety of AI, promote innovation and competition, support workers, advance equity and civil rights, protect consumers and protect privacy.
When Was the Executive Order on AI Issued?
President Biden issued the executive order on AI on October 30, 2023, as part of his broader agenda to advance U.S. leadership and innovation in AI. After many meetings in the Oval Office about the technology and its potential for both good and bad, Biden “was as impressed and alarmed as anyone,” according to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed. Biden insisted that this needed to be addressed quickly and moved the order through at an unusual pace for government. Other governments around the world are also racing to establish protections.
Why Was the Executive Order on AI Issued?
The idea behind the executive order is to make AI safer, more secure and more trustworthy. It is not meant to be comprehensive or the final word on AI. “This executive order is an opening salvo not meant to be comprehensive or final, but it sets a significant policy agenda as other bodies — including Congress and aligned international partners — consider next steps,” according to Graham Brookie, VP and senior director, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
The executive order was issued days before world leaders headed to the U.K. for a summit on AI safety and builds on years of action from the administration. “The administration is clearly trying to both make its mark in a crowded space and begin to make sense of the AI landscape within the powers it has,” said Rose Jackson, director of the Democracy + Tech Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
“The rapid speed at which AI capabilities are advancing compels the United States to lead in this moment for the sake of our security, economy and society,” the order says.
Who Does the Executive Order on AI Apply To?
The executive order primarily applies to federal agencies and contractors, research institutions that receive federal funding and tech companies and developers working in the AI space.
How Does the Executive Order on AI Work?
The executive order builds on previous actions — The “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” the NIST “AI Risk Management Framework,” private industry company commitments and the “Policy on Government Use of AI,” and National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot — to drive safe, secure and trustworthy development of AI in the US.
The executive order sets standards for AI safety and security as the technology develops, requires transparency from developers and creates a testing methodology to use before deploying any AI that might be a threat to critical infrastructure. It offers guidelines and best practices for companies to use when using AI-generated content and asks federal agencies to use these guidelines.
The goal of the order is to ensure that America leads the way in the development and use of AI while managing the risks:
- It requires that developers of powerful AI systems share safety test results and other critical information with the U.S. government.
- It tasks government agencies — the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security and others — with developing standards and testing procedures for AI tools before their release.
- The Department of Commerce will develop guidance for watermarking and labeling AI-generated content, so American’s know when government communications are authentic.
- It directs the Nationals Security Council and White House chief of staff to direct the military and intelligence community to use AI effectively and ethically.
- It also offers guidelines for landlords, federal benefits programs, the criminal justice system, education and federal contractors who use AI algorithms to avoid AI-induced discrimination.
The order issues a host of provisions and deadlines for various federal departments and offices to complete the vast body of work that will go into fulfilling the order’s sweeping objectives.
Webinar
Oct
16
Agentic AI Playbook: Real-World Customer Service Use Cases You Can Deploy Now
Boost self-service by 30% and slash call volume by 63% with agentic AI.
Register
Webinar
Oct
22
Beyond Storage: Smarter Content, Bigger Impact with DAM + AI
Discover how the DAM + AI duo makes content smarter, stronger and more accessible.
Register
Webinar
Nov
6
Fix the Content Bottleneck: Build a Better WebOps Strategy
Content stalled? Dev overloaded? You’re not the only one. Learn how streamlined WebOps bridges the publishing gap.
Register
Webinar
On demand
CMS Briefing: A Live Look at What’s Next in AI-Driven Platforms
Learn how leading organizations are using AI‑driven tools to publish faster, personalize smarter and stay secure.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Ready or Not: How Data-First Organizations Are Unlocking Agentforce Potential
Learn how to cut through the noise, activate Agentforce and build a Salesforce AI strategy that actually delivers.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
AI in Customer Service: Faster Resolutions, Happier Customers
Don’t let rising demand burn out your team. See how to build a smarter, more resilient support org.
Watch Now
Some of the work has already been completed since the order was signed last year: The U.S. The Department of Commerce proposed a draft rule requiring U.S. companies to alert the government when foreign companies use their resources to train AI models and verify the identity of foreign customers. Nine agencies conducted risk assessments. The National Science Foundation launched a pilot program to develop a national infrastructure for delivering computing power. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) established the Artificial Safety Institute. Work continues and items on the to-do list are checked off daily. The Mayer Brown law firm is keeping a tally of the work as it progresses.
