The Office of Management and Budget released a draft memorandum Jan. 13 providing guidance to agencies on how they should approach regulation of industry’s artificial intelligence applications.
The guidance emphasizes that agencies should consider how any regulatory action would potentially hinder expansion of AI use. The draft memo “calls on agencies, when considering regulations or policies related to AI applications, to promote advancements in technology and innovation.”
“Agencies must avoid a precautionary approach that holds AI systems to such an impossibly high standard that society cannot enjoy their benefits,” OMB officials wrote. “Where AI entails risk, agencies should consider the potential benefits and costs of employing AI, when compared to the systems AI has been designed to complement or replace.”
Throughout the draft memorandum, OMB expresses concerns about the federal government over-regulating AI to the extend that it hampers innovation and development of the technology. But there will be some cases where agencies will have to issue rules and regulations pertaining to AI applications. To avoid over-burdensome regulation, the draft memo includes 10 principles for use in government:
- Public trust in AI. Regulatory and non-regulatory actions need to be reliable, robust and trustworthy.
- Public participation: The public should have opportunities to participate in the rule-making process.
- Scientific integrity and information quality. The government’s approaches to AI should use scientific and technical information and processes.
- Risk assessment and management. Regulatory and non-regulatory approaches should be made after assessing risk and determining how to manage it.
- Benefits and costs. Agencies need to consider the full societal costs and benefits related to developing and using AI applications.
- Flexibility. Agency approaches to AI should be flexible and performance-based.
- Fairness and nondiscrimination. AI can reduce or increase discrimination. Both regulatory and non-regulatory approaches need to consider issues of fairness and nondiscrimination in outcomes.
- Disclosure and transparency. Agencies should be transparent in an effort to improve public trust in AI.
- Safety and security. Agencies should ensure that that they have controls in place to guarantee confidentiality, integrity and availability of data used by AI.
- Interagency coordination. OMB officials wrote that agencies need to coordinate with one another about shared experiences and “ensure consistency and predictability of AI-related policies.”
According to this, Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) created Artificial Intelligence World Society Initiative (AIWSI) as a means of counteracting harmful and unethical uses of AI, and building the 7-layer AI model, including ethics, to achieve a peaceful and secure world. The AIWS Innovation Network, a part of AIWSI, is also promoted to identify, publish and promote principles for the virtuous application of AI into governments, corporations and non-profit organizations.
The original article can be found here.