US President Signs Executive Order on Safe Use of AI

A few days ago, United States President Joe Biden signed the “Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” 

The purpose of the executive order is to determine the US administration’s AI policy and to provide guidance to government bodies on the development and use of artificial intelligence in a way that enables significant technological progress while protecting the rights of citizens. The drafting of the executive order is another significant step toward US federal regulation of the development and use of artificial intelligence. The US government is aiming not to lag behind the European Union, which is set to formally approve its AI Act by the end of the year, after years of discussions.

Principles of Action Pertaining to Artificial Intelligence

The executive order establishes a set of principles of action for the purpose of providing guidance on the use of AI tools to the US government and various government authorities, and, ultimately, to the entire economy. The executive order includes, inter alia, the following principles:

• Artificial intelligence must be safe and secure and mitigate cyber risks.
• Protection of civil rights, particularly social equality and preventing discrimination when using artificial intelligence.
• Protection of users’ privacy, information confidentiality, and other civil liberties.
• Management of the risks of using AI tools.
• Promotion of the responsible development and use of AI tools.

Provisions on the Development of Artificial Intelligence

The executive order instructs various government authorities to conduct professional examinations and to establish rules and regulations for implementing these principles. Inter alia, the US government is looking to establish rules to protect the privacy of users of artificial intelligence tools, to decide how to conduct privacy infringement risk assessments in these tools, and to specify ways to limit disclosures of private information through these tools.

The US government is also looking to promote transparency in the development of AI tools, with an emphasis on foundation models, in a way that will explain to the general public how these tools work. According to the executive order, disclosure of such data can lead to responsible development of AI technology and prevent various biases.

Additional Implications

The executive order is based on collaborative work between the US government and leading companies in the field of artificial intelligence. This collaboration led to the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, published by the administration in October 2022. That document served as the foundation for the current executive order.

The various guidelines set forth in the executive order will serve as a significant layer in the development of AI regulation in the United States. It is reasonable to assume that, following the release of the executive order, government and law enforcement authorities will institute regulations establishing rigorous new rules regarding the development and use of AI tools.

Since these developments will have implications for all companies marketing AI and operating in the United States, we recommend preparing for this as soon as possible.

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Barnea Jaffa Lande’s Privacy, Data Protection and Cyber Department is at your service to answer any questions about the development and use of AI tools.

Dr. Avishay Klein is a partner and heads the department.

Adv. Masha Yudashkin is an associate in the department.