White House to Unveil AI Executive Order Next Week

The White House is expected to release a highly anticipated executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) early next week.

The sweeping executive order will reportedly require advanced AI models to undergo assessments before they can be utilized by federal workers. The rulemaking would also ease barriers to immigration for highly skilled workers, an attempt to boost the nation’s technological edge. Federal government agencies – including the Defense Department, Department of Energy and intelligence agencies – would be required to run assessments to determine how they might incorporate AI into their agencies’ work, with a focus on bolstering national cyber defenses.

The Biden administration has been gathering public comments and meeting with top Silicon Valley executives to determine how to regulate the explosion of AI tools that are transforming how businesses and associations operate. The European Union has also taken action, and is expected to reach a deal by the end of the year on the E.U. AI Act, a wide-ranging package that aims to protect consumers from potentially dangerous applications of AI.

Congress is still in the early stages of developing bipartisan legislation to respond to AI. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is convening a series of “AI Insight Forums” this fall to brief Congress on various topics and scenarios related to AI. “There’s such little legislative history on this issue, so a new process is called for,” he said. The first AI Insight Forum took place in September and included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.