The White House issued its first national security memorandum outlining the use of artificial intelligence for the military and intelligence agencies. The White House also shared an abridged copy of the memorandum with the public.
The new memo establishes guidelines for military and intelligence agencies to use ai in their daily operations. The memo sets out a series of deadlines for agencies to study applications and regulations of artificial intelligence tools, most of which will expire after President Biden takes office. The memo also aims to limit “the most dystopian possibilities, including the development of autonomous weapons,” according to the ai.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:New York Times;cpos:2;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced the new directive today in as part of a talk about the presence of ai in government operations. Sullivan has been one of the president's staunchest defenders in examining the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence technology. He also expressed concern about China's use of ai to control its population and spread misinformation and how the memo may spark conversations with other countries struggling to implement their own ai strategies.
The memo sets out some limitations for the use of ai, especially when it comes to weapons systems. The memo states that ai can never be used as a tool to make decisions to launch nuclear weapons or assign asylum status to immigrants arriving in the United States. It also prohibits ai from tracking anyone based on race or religion or determining whether a suspect is a known terrorist without human intervention.
The memo also establishes protections for the advancement of private sector ai as “national assets that must be protected… from espionage or theft by foreign adversaries,” according to the document. Times. The memo directs intelligence agencies to help private companies working on ai models secure their work and provide updated intelligence reports to project their ai assets.
