Artificial Intelligence for the American People
Introduction
Overview
The age of artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived, and is transforming everything from healthcare to transportation to manufacturing.
America has long been the global leader in this new era of AI, and is poised to maintain this leadership going forward because of our strong innovation ecosystem. Realizing the full potential of AI for the Nation requires the combined efforts of industry, academia, and government. The Administration has been active in developing policies and implementing strategies that accelerate AI innovation in the U.S. for the benefit of the American people. These activities align with several areas of emphasis: AI for American Innovation, AI for American Industry, AI for the American Worker, and AI with American Values. This AI.gov website provides a portal for exploring these activities in more depth, and serves as a resource for those who want to learn more about how to take full advantage of the opportunities of AI.
“Continued American leadership in Artificial Intelligence is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States.”
– President Donald J. Trump
03 AI for American Industry
AI innovation can be hampered or driven overseas by overly restrictive government regulations. We will create a national climate where scientists and technologists successfully develop their new AI inventions here in the United States. Under this Administration, we are removing regulatory and other barriers to the safe development and testing of AI technologies, to enable the creation of new AI-based industries and the adoption of AI by existing industries. In January 2020, the White House proposed AI regulatory principles for the use of AI in the private sector. These transparent regulatory principles, which are open for public comment, are designed to achieve three goals: ensure public engagement, limit regulatory overreach and promote trustworthy technology. In concert, agencies are developing regulatory and non-regulatory approaches for innovative uses of AI while also upholding civil liberties, privacy, and American values.
Examples of these approaches include the Department of Transportation’s work to safely integrate driverless cars onto traditional roadways, the FDA’s approval of the first ever AI-based device for medical diagnostics, and the FAA’s work to speed the integration of unmanned aerial systems into the Nation’s airspace. Additionally, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is exploring intellectual property policy considerations of AI.
The Federal government welcomes additional ideas from the American public on barriers that can be removed to speed AI innovation while also protecting privacy, civil liberties, and the safety of the American public.
Transportation
Autonomous systems, such as unmanned aircraft systems (drones) and self-driving vehicles, offer tremendous benefits to our economy and society. They promise to transform the delivery of household goods, provide mobility options for senior citizens and Americans with disabilities, improve the safety of dangerous occupations, and expand access to life-saving medical supplies. In partnership with State and local governments, the Trump Administration, through the Department of Transportation and NASA, is working to enable the safe operation of these systems on our roadways and in our airspace.
“It shall be the policy of the United States to promote the safe operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and enable the development of UAS technologies for use in agriculture, commerce, emergency management, human transportation, and other sectors.”
President Donald J. Trump
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
On October 25, 2017, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to establish an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) integration pilot program (IPP), which the President signed into law with the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act. Two weeks later, Secretary Chao announced the creation of the UAS IPP to develop and safely test the further integration of UAS in a select number of State, local, and tribal jurisdictions. Over the following months, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) heard from more than 2,500 interested parties, with more than 300 state, local, and tribal governments interested in taking part. On May 10, 2018, Secretary Chao announced the selection of ten program awardees, spanning the continental United States and Alaska. These awardees are conducting a range of novel and innovative UAS operations, including pairing drones with 5G test networks, eradicating pestilent mosquito populations, and delivering life-saving medical equipment in emergency situations. Data gathered from these pilot projects will form the basis of a new regulatory framework.
In January 2019, FAA announced proposed new rules to allow drones to fly at night and over people without waivers under certain conditions and to further integrate drones safely into the national airspace system. FAA also announced the Unmanned Aircraft System Safe and Secure Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. This proposal identifies major drone safety and security issues that may pose a threat to other aircraft, to people on the ground, or to national security. It is soliciting recommendations to reduce these risks as drones are integrated into our national airspace.
The FAA has established the UAS Data Exchange, a collaborative approach to facilitate the sharing of airspace data between government and industry, which has already led to shortened processing times for airspace authorizations for UAS operators. In coordination with the FAA, NASA continues development of a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system, and in May 2018 released Version 1.0 of the UTM Concept of Operations.
“UAS present opportunities to enhance the safety of the American public, increase the efficiency and productivity of American industry, and create tens of thousands of new American jobs.”
President Donald J. Trump
Autonomous Vehicles
The development and deployment of automated vehicles (AV) and automated driving systems (ADS), have the potential to reduce the number and severity of serious automobile crashes. Over 90 percent of these crashes are due to human error, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and automation can help in preventing injuries and saving lives. The market for automated vehicles is anticipated to be over $40 billion in 2025 and more than $75 billion in 2035. In addition, fully automated vehicles have the potential to present new transportation options for older Americans and those with disabilities, increasing their connectivity and independence.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) is taking active steps to develop guidance for how best to integrate automated vehicles and driving systems into our transportation system. In January 2020, DOT released “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 4.0,” which details ten U.S. Government principles to protect users and communities, to promote efficient markets, and to facilitate coordinated efforts to ensure a standardized Federal approach to American leadership. This new document builds off of the Department’s 2018 AV 3.0 guidance and 2017 ADS 2.0 guidance, which focused on innovation for surface transportation modes, and safe testing and integration of Automated Driving Systems, respectively.
Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 4.0
“The safe deployment of automated vehicle technologies means we can look forward to a future with fewer traffic fatalities and increased mobility for all Americans.”
Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao
Healthcare
Artificial intelligence has immense potential to advance healthcare, accelerate medical research, and support the health and well-being of all Americans. This is especially true as AI technologies are leveraged as part of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Trump Administration has led key initiatives to harness the power of AI to fight the virus. Working alongside industry, academic, and nonprofit leaders, the White House coordinated the release of the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19), the most comprehensive collection of machine readable scholarly articles on coronavirus to date. The White House then issued a call to action to the AI community to develop publicly available AI tools and techniques that can help researchers summarize and analyze the dataset.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is using artificial intelligence and high performance computing to accelerate COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research. Capitalizing on America’s world-class AI and HPC capabilities, the White House led an effort with DOE, the National Science Foundation, and leading industry and academic partners to establish the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium. Through the consortium, Federal government, industry, and academic leaders volunteer free compute time and resources to COVID-19 researchers.
Outside of the pandemic, the Trump Administration has taken important action to remove barriers to AI innovation in healthcare. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has had a key role in this effort, starting with the first FDA approval of an AI-powered medical device in 2018. Since then, the FDA has permitted marketing of AI-based software that can help healthcare providers detect wrist fractures more quickly, and began developing an adaptive framework for smart software in medical devices, such as electrocardiogram (EKG) devices that estimate the probability of a heart attack. The FDA also approved an AI tool to help detect coronavirus in CT scans. In addition, the FDA along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered to advance research in machine learning and natural language processing by creating free tools that will improve the collection of clinical data.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is promoting medical innovation through the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe) by offering partnerships with public and private institutions. For example, DRIVe seeks to provide innovative solutions to diseases such as sepsis by introducing machine learning algorithms to treat the disease. HHS also worked on a Health Tech Sprint to show how AI can be applied to Federal data to create products for healthcare applications.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) launched the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge, in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The CMS AI Health Outcomes Challenge will distribute up to $1.65 million to encourage further progress in AI for health and health care and to accelerate development of real-world applications for this technology, such as predicting unplanned hospital and skilled nursing facility admissions and adverse events.
The National Institutes of Health is exploring many opportunities for AI to accelerate medical advances in biomedical research. NIH has large data sets resulting from projects such as the NIH Human Microbiome Project and the All of Us Research Program. These data sets provide great opportunity for AI to foster discovery. In 2019, reports on work funded by NIH, researchers were able to use AI to catch irregular heartbeats, indicating that AI can be used to improve the accuracy and efficiency of EKG readings. NIH also launched a working group on AI to explore ways to make the best use of existing data, and harness the potential of AI to advance biomedical research and the practice of medicine.
Manufacturing
State-of-the-art advances in manufacturing help our economy and empower our workforce. In July of 2018, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) identified manufacturing areas such as chemical manufacturing, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence, aircraft parts, integrated circuits, space and exploration technology, etc., as areas under threat from foreign espionage. In the face of intense global competition, President Trump unveiled a National Strategic Plan on Advanced Manufacturing in October 2018 that focuses on defending the economy, expanding manufacturing employment, and ensuring a strong manufacturing and defense industrial base and a resilient supply chain.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working to provide the tools to move our industries into the smart manufacturing generation. By developing automated, distributed sensing, and autonomous control systems, the Trump Administration wants to increase the operational efficiency of factories across the United States. In April of 2018, and for the first time ever, NIST published guidelines and best practices for introducing wireless technology into smart manufacturing. Our leadership in modern manufacturing comes with economic threats such as those related to cybersecurity.
“Optimism among American manufacturers has hit all-time highs as American businesses across the country have paid bonuses, increased wages, and boosted contributions to employee retirement plans.”
ORNL’s MDF Industry Collaboration Program
This program connects industry partners with national laboratory and academic experts to test and implement state-of-the-art technologies for manufacturing processes.
High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program
The DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is home to the High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program. The goal of this program is to bring industry manufacturers to use high-performance computing to develop simulations that will advance manufacturing technology.
Financial Services
Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States’ economy is growing at a fast pace. The Department of the Treasury is pursuing policies that promote the adoption of innovating tools such as AI and machine learning while removing unnecessary regulatory barriers. These new tools will empower the American people by helping them make more informed decisions about their short-term and long-term financial goals.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively implementing machine learning algorithms to monitor and detect potential investment market misconduct. Additionally, in September 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued new policies that allow for an increased use of data and machine learning algorithms in financial products and services. These policies will help unleash innovation in the financial sector, driving competition that lowers prices and provides consumers with more and better products and services. New approaches can also expand access to the benefits of the financial system for Americans of all backgrounds.
“Financial institutions have been improving their ability to monitor transactions and conduct link analysis with new technologies that rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Being proactive on this front is more important than ever in your sector given the sophisticated ways actors use to move money and goods. We applaud efforts to use new technologies to identify and build out networks and make better decisions about who you should and should not be doing business with.”
CFPB Policies to Facilitate Compliance and Promote Innovation
Artificial Intelligence. Emerging Opportunities, Challenges, and Implications
This Report to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives highlights, among other items, the benefits and challenges of deploying artificial intelligence technologies to financial services.
Agriculture
Confronting one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture today—feeding an additional 2 billion people by 2050—the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is positioning farmers, scientists, educators, and the American public to benefit from artificial intelligence, providing economic opportunity through innovation, helping rural America to thrive, and promoting more efficient and profitable agricultural production.
NIFA has launched a data science initiative, Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools, to accelerate and expand on a diverse portfolio of AI-related programs that represent a multitude of uses in agricultural production, sensor development, bioinformatics, ecosystem management, rural community support, and workforce development through education and training at all levels. This work includes robotic solutions that utilize AI technologies to assist in pollination, weeding, pesticide applications, and fruit harvesting; AI algorithms that assist in identifying plant, animal and tree species that contribute to pest control and ecosystem management; and adaptive groundwater and watershed models to maintain resilience of agricultural systems. NIFA’s investments contribute to a wide breadth of AI-relevant research including big data, machine learning, autonomous systems, computer vision and intelligent decision support systems, as well as the socioeconomic and workforce considerations with rapidly increasing role of AI in U.S. agriculture.
ARS is collaborating with industry to advance the role of AI in monitoring livestock, using robots to sort harvests, analyzing irrigation systems, and utilizing UAV technology to analyze crop health and efficiently apply pesticides. Their programs include the use of automated calculations to analyze crop foliage composition and then guide the application of pesticides; self-propelled apple sorting machines that use algorithms to quality sort the fruit; and aerial monitoring of fungi levels on corn and other crops using computer vision and deep learning.
ERS is conducting research and development to use machine learning and AI to create better crop yield models based on weather data and analysis.
USDA’s work in AI and data science brings revolutionary technology to agriculture with the potential to transform our ability to bring high-quality food to America’s dinner table.
Weather Forecasting
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is using AI to better understand and predict the dynamic environment we live in. The American AI Initiative prioritizes research and development investments, along with data and computational infrastructure, that will accelerate the ability of researchers to create AI that can assimilate the massive amounts of big data from our environmental satellites into our weather models to improve predictions of hurricanes and severe storms. AI capabilities, including sensors on aerial and underwater drones led to record setting accuracy in forecasts for Hurricane Florence that led to over 200,000 lifesaving evacuations 4 days before the storm made landfall.
Other applications of AI by NOAA include improving nautical charts to ensure safe and efficient maritime commerce, surveying fish stocks to effectively manage our nation’s $208B/year recreational and commercial fishing industries, monitoring and conserving endangered species, and exploring, mapping, and monitoring the world’s ocean conditions and coasts for critical national security and economic applications. NOAA also uses onboard AI and machine learning techniques in NOAA satellites help protect the environmental spacecraft during radiation events that could corrupt satellite computers. Automated software checks built into the onboard system can detect charged particles passing through onboard electronics, and then initiate contingency procedures to clear error conditions and help return satellites to full functionality.
“NOAA, in cooperation with academia and the private sector, is riding the wave of exponential improvements in Artificial Intelligence to dramatically advance our mission to protect life and property and empower the nation’s economy”
NOAA Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, USN (retired)
National Security & Defense
On December 18, 2017, President Trump signed a new National Security Strategy that calls on America to lead in research, technology, invention, and innovation in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. The Trump Administration’s commitment to AI is exemplified in the National Defense Strategy, where the Administration states its intent to invest broadly in military application of AI and machine learning alongside other emerging technologies. The Administration’s commitment to advanced AI R&D is evident in the FY 2020 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities memo, which calls for investment in AI, quantum information science, and strategic computing as critical components of our national security.
In June 2018, the DoD established the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to serve as the focal point in the use of AI for key defense missions. The JAIC accelerates the delivery of AI-enabled capabilities, scales the DoD-wide impact of AI, and synchronizes the DoD’s AI activities. The JAIC further aims to spur momentum in the use of AI for DoD by focusing on a set of challenging use cases that can benefit from AI, including perception, predictive maintenance, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and cyber sensemaking, all detailed at ai.mil. The JAIC’s mission is to both deliver new AI-enabled capabilities to DoD end users, as well as to incrementally develop a common foundation of shared data, reusable tools, frameworks, libraries, and standards that are essential for scaling the impact of AI across DoD.
In February 2019, the Department of Defense released its DoD AI Strategy, which focuses efforts on harnessing AI to advance our Nation’s security and prosperity. The DoD AI Strategy defines the JAIC as the focal point of DoD’s AI efforts, and outlines on the following key strategic aims: delivering AI-enabled capabilities for key missions; partnering with leading private sector technology companies, academia, and global allies; cultivating a leading AI workforce; and leading in military ethics and AI safety.
Similarly in the intelligence community (IC), the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) released in January 2019 the Augmenting Intelligence using Machines (AIM) Initiative. With scale in mind, the IC is enhancing its ability to provide much-needed data interpretation to decision makers across government.
“The impact of AI will extend across the entire Department, spanning from operations and training to recruiting and healthcare. The speed and agility with which we will deliver AI capabilities to the warfighter has the potential to change the character of warfare. We must accelerate the adoption of AI-enabled capabilities to strengthen our military, improve effectiveness and efficiency, and enhance the security of our nation.”
Mr. Dana Deasy, DOD CIO