The White House has issued its first national security memorandum outlining the use of artificial intelligence in the military and intelligence agencies. The White House also shared an abbreviated copy of the memo with the public.
The new memo sets out guidelines for military and intelligence agencies to use AI in their daily operations. The memo sets out a series of deadlines for government agencies to consider the application and regulation of AI tools, most of which expire after President Biden takes office. According to the New York Times, the memo also aims to limit “the most dystopian possibilities, including the development of autonomous weapons.”
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced the new directive today at the National Defense University as part of a speech on the presence of AI in government operations. Sullivan is one of the president’s most vocal supporters of weighing the benefits and risks of AI technology. He also expressed concern about China’s use of AI for population control and the spread of misinformation, and the possibility that the memo could trigger dialogue with other countries working to implement their own AI strategies. expressed.
The memorandum establishes some hard edges on the use of AI, particularly when it comes to weapons systems. The memo states that AI can never be used as a decision maker for launching nuclear weapons or assigning asylum status to immigrants coming to the United States. It also prohibits AI from tracking someone based on race or religion or determining whether a suspect is a known terrorist without human intervention.
According to the Times, the memo also specifies protections for private sector advances in AI as “a national asset that must be protected from espionage and theft by foreign adversaries.” The memorandum directs intelligence agencies to help private companies working on AI models secure their work and to provide them with up-to-date intelligence reports to predict their AI assets.
