White House to probe role of AI in government
The White House has announced a series of public workshops on artificial intelligence and machine learning and will explore how AI can improve the delivery of government services.
As the field of artificial intelligence advances, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is launching a series of public workshops about artificial intelligence and machine learning. All are open to the public.
OSTP is also creating an interagency working group to explore how that "transformative technology" can benefit education, transportation, industry and other fields.
"There are tremendous opportunities and an array of considerations across the federal government in privacy, security, regulation, law, and research and development to be taken into account when effectively integrating this technology into both government and private-sector activities," Deputy U.S. CTO Ed Felten wrote in a May 3 blog post.
The National Science and Technology Council's new Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will meet for the first time the week of May 9. The group will monitor advances in AI and machine learning in the federal government, the private sector and the world.
It will work with federal agencies to find ways to use AI to better deliver government services. Such efforts could include creating pilot projects that evaluate AI approaches and investing in research.
"Today's AI is confined to narrow, specific tasks and isn't anything like the general, adaptable intelligence that humans exhibit," Felten wrote. "Despite this, AI's influence on the world is growing. The rate of progress we have seen will have broad implications for fields ranging from health care to image and voice recognition."
The workshops will be held May through July in Seattle; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; and New York City and will be livestreamed. OSTP will use the workshops to generate material for a public report on AI due out later this year.