New AI Executive Order Focuses on US Tech Leadership; Export Controls Not Named

A new executive order on artificial intelligence signed by President Joe Biden this week doesn’t explicitly mention export controls or other trade restrictions, but it does outline the administration's goal of working with other countries to protect against dangerous uses of AI and maintaining U.S. leadership in the technology. The Commerce Department also said the Bureau of Industry and Security, as well as other agency offices, will "be responsible for carrying out a significant portion of the EO’s objectives."

Under the order, the White House said the State and Commerce departments will launch an effort to “establish robust international frameworks for harnessing AI’s benefits and managing its risks and ensuring safety,” and will require certain developers of AI to share their safety test results and other “critical information” with the U.S. government if their dual use "foundation model" poses a “serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety,” an Oct. 30 fact sheet said.

Commerce said BIS will invoke the Defense Production Act to "institute measures to enhance safety as next-generation frontier AI models are developed," including measures requiring developers to "report the steps they are taking to test their models and protect them from theft." BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez said the agency "stands ready to develop the regulations and procedures mandated by today’s executive order that will enhance safety and protect our national security and foreign policy interests without hindering the ability for technological developments and trade to flourish.”

The order also aspires to “catalyze” American AI research across the U.S. by launching a new resource to give researchers and students access to “key” AI resources and data. That effort will be launched through a pilot of the National AI Research Resource.