The White House is directing the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to increase their adoption of artificial intelligence, expanding the Biden administration’s efforts to curb technological competition from China and other adversaries.
The edict is part of a landmark national security memorandum published Thursday. It aims to make government agencies step up experiments and deployments of AI. The memo also bans agencies from using the technology in ways that “do not align with democratic values,” according to a White House news release.
“This is our nation’s first ever strategy for harnessing the power and managing the risks of AI to advance our national security,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a speech Thursday. Sullivan called the speed of change in AI “breathtaking” and said it had the potential to affect fields ranging from nuclear physics to rocketry and stealth technology.
The White House believes that providing clear rules for using AI will make it easier for government agencies to use the technology, according to a briefing with senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the report before its publication.
“We must outcompete our adversaries,” said one of the officials. “With a lack of policy clarity and legal clarity of what can and can’t be done, we are likely to see less experimentation.”
Government agencies should not use AI to track Americans’ free speech or get around existing controls on nuclear weapons, the national security memo says.
The United States currently has a “strong hand” in AI and its companies dominate the field, another of the officials said. Maintaining that lead to avoid a “strategic surprise” from rivals including China is a key government priority, the official said.
