White House Updates National AI Research and Development Plan

The White House has published the 2019 update of the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan. The report sets out priorities for U.S. AI policy. The 2019 report carries forward seven recommendations from the 2016 plan. The plan underscores the need to address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI (Strategy #3), emphasizes safety and security (Strategy #4), and the development of standards and benchmarks (Strategy #6). A new recommendation "focuses on the increasing importance of effective partnerships between the Federal Government and academia, industry, other non-Federal entities, and international allies to generate technological breakthroughs in AI." The 2019 report acknowledges input from "researchers, research organizations, professional societies, civil society organizations and individuals." Common themes included "the importance of developing trustworthy AI systems, including fairness, ethics, accountability, and transparency of AI systems." EPIC also recommended that the US AI strategy incorporate the Universal Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence in national policy. As the report notes, "beyond purely data-related issues, however, larger questions arise about the design of AI to be inherently just, fair, transparent, and accountable."