Executive order seeks clarity on obstacles to national AI standard
An Executive Order (EO) on "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI)" directs agencies and working groups to study obstacles in the way of a national AI standard. The EO notes that “United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” and that “excessive state regulation” is standing in the way thwarts this imperative
“The resulting framework must forbid state laws that conflict with the policy set forth in this order. That framework should also ensure that children are protected, censorship is prevented, copyrights are respected, and communities are safeguarded,” the EO reads.
State fair lending and algorithmic bias laws regulating the use of AI are one of the types of state laws America’s Credit Unions highlighted in a September letter to the Department of Justice on state laws creating undue burdens on credit unions.
Specifically, the EO calls for
- Establishing an AI litigation task force within 30 days to challenge AI laws inconsistent with the EO’s policy;
- The Department of Commerce to issue a report within 90 days identifying state laws in conflict with the EO's stated policy objectives. Within 90 days after the report is issued:
- The Federal Communications Commission must determine whether to adopt a federal reporting and disclosure standard for AI models that preempts conflicting state laws;
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must issue a policy statement to clarify the application of the FTC’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive acts or practices to AI models, and the extent to which that standard preempts state laws that require “alterations to the truthful outputs of AI models;” and
- Executive branch agencies to determine the extent to which discretionary funding to a state can be cut if the state has adopted conflicting AI rules;
State laws excluded from the possibility of preemption would include those relating to child safety, AI compute and data center infrastructure, state government procurement of AI, and “other topics as shall be determined.”