Lamar Smith, Hans Rickhoff Interviewed by CCBJ on US Gov’t AI Initiatives

Akin Gump senior consultant Lamar Smith and senior counsel Hans Rickhoff were interviewed by Corporate Counsel Business Journal for the article “U.S. Efforts to Advance the Development and Use of AI,” on U.S. government artificial intelligence-related initiatives.

Among the topics covered:

• Ethics and AI: “Few hard stop ethical boundaries have been put in place to address the ethical concerns associated with artificial intelligence applications. The Trump administration’s executive order announcing the American AI Initiative directs federal agencies to protect civil liberties, privacy, American values, and United States economic and national security while informing the development of a regulatory framework.”
• Congressional actors re: AI: “Because artificial intelligence influences so many different sectors, there are several committees with relevant jurisdiction. No single committee in Congress has primary jurisdiction over AI…Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Rob Portman (R-OH) recently announced the formation of the bipartisan Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus. The Senate AI Caucus will work to develop smart policy that balances AI’s risks and rewards to ensure the competitiveness of the U.S. economy, while maintaining important ethical standards.”
• Federal gov’t role in promoting AI research: “Witnesses advised the subcommittee that the federal government could play a critical role in enabling the further development of AI by loosening restrictions on data sets that are considered a public good. Some of the most comprehensive data sets are currently owned by the federal government. The federal government likely will embrace an open data policy to provide researchers access to large data sets in the furtherance of research.”

To read the full Q&A, click here.