Creation of the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan

In 2016, amidst this landscape of uncertainty, the United States government launched a series of activities and actions to help the country better understand and prepare for the impacts of advancements in artificial intelligence (Felten 2016b). In one of those actions, the government called for the creation of a national strategic plan on AI that defines the federal role in AI research and development (R&D). Why was a strategic plan needed? If done thoughtfully, a national AI R&D strategic plan could help address these uncertainties by identifying the federal role in AI investments and defining open AI R&D challenges that must be solved before AI can be used in important societal applications.