White House Launches “AI.gov”, with Financial Services Regulatory Focus

The White House this week launched AI.gov as “Artificial Intelligence for the American People”, with five pillars:

Executive Order on AI

AI for American Innovation

AI for American Industry

AI for the American Worker

AI with American Values

US President Trump last month signed the executive order on “maintaining American leadership in AI” which you can read here in the US federal register. Highlights include:

Unleashing innovation in AI by supporting long-term research and increasing access to Federal data and computing resources for America’s AI researchers;

Promoting a responsible approach to AI by encouraging transformative applications of AI, while continually improving outcomes for workers and users alike;

Preparing America’s workforce for the jobs of the future by directing Federal agencies to help Americans gain AI-relevant skills and promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education;

Directing regulatory agencies to establish guidance for AI development and use across technologies and industrial sectors;

Calling upon the National Institute of Standards and Technology to lead the development of appropriate technical and safety standards for AI systems; and

Protecting America’s advantage in AI by promoting an international environment that supports American AI research and industries while securing critical AI technology.

The White House last May hosted an AI summit to discuss the promise and policies around artificial intelligence. At the summit, participants joined two sets of breakout sessions focused on cross-cutting issues such as AI R&D, workforce development, regulatory barriers to AI innovation, and sector-specific applications of AI.

Dr. France Cordova, the Director for the NSF, stated: “Building the foundations of tomorrow’s AI Innovations will require new interdisciplinary collaborations, resources, and strategic vision – principles that NSF has championed in its support of fundamental AI research.”

Some of the key agencies highlighted by the White House on AI.gov are shown below:

As we have seen in the media of late, globally, big emphasis is placed on the computing infrastructure in regard to AI, and AI.gov talks in depth about the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab; Frontera, a new high-performance computing system; and Pleiades, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s supercomputer – in conjunction with high quality datasets.

When it comes to industry segmentation and discussion, the AI emphasis for financial services for the US is on reducing ”unnecessary regulatory barriers” and on implementing ML algorithms at the SEC with its new task forces and FinTech labs.