New White House memo calls for agencies to protect AI from foreign adversaries

In Brief

President Joe Biden on Thursday is expected to sign a memorandum detailing how intelligence and national security agencies, including the Pentagon, should use and implement guardrails around AI, reports The New York Times.

The order urges keeping humans “in the loop” of AI tools that may be used as targeting weapons, and prohibits letting AI make decisions on granting asylum, tracking someone based on their ethnicity or religion, or classifying a person as a “known terrorist” without human review.

Beyond this, the memorandum calls for intelligence agencies to begin protecting work on AI and AI chips from spying or theft by foreign adversaries. And it empowers the recently established AI Safety Institute to help inspect AI tools before they are released to ensure that they can’t aid terrorist groups or hostile nations.

As The New York Times notes, it’s unclear how impactful the order will ultimately be, given most of the deadlines it sets will lapse after Biden leaves office.

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