U.S. Artificial Intelligence Strategy: Work In Progress

The Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, issued on February 11th, 2019, takes the U.S. in the right direction by directing Executive branch Agencies to consider and prioritize AI across several dimensions. It recognizes that success in Artificial Intelligence is a national security issue for the U.S., which has not always been fully acknowledged. It also highlights important data and workforce issues, which are critical prerequisites to any success in the AI domain. In general, I applaud the Office of Science and Technology Policy for making the effort and driving attention to this issue. However, recognizing that AI is a broad and deep issue and that coordinating ANY activity across the entire Federal government is complicated and fraught with challenge, I still believe the Executive Order (EO) falls well short.