US White House creates Select Committee to advance R&D in AI

On 10 May, the US White House hosted an ‘Artificial intelligence (AI) for American Industry’ summit bringing together more than 100 participants from governmental institutions, academia, and technology companies. At the event, Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant to the US President for Technology Policy, announced the creation of a Select Committee on AI, under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), whose task will be to ‘advise and assist the NSTC to improve the overall effectiveness and productivity of federal research and development efforts related to AI’. Kratsios also emphasised the fact that the US administration does not plan to introduce heavy regulations for the AI sector, but rather, to take a ‘get out of the way’ approach to remove barriers to innovation and allow ‘scientists and technologists to freely develop their next great inventions’. In addition, he emphasised that the USA will not ‘limit [itself] with international commitments rooted in fear of worst-case-scenarios’. Kratsios also spoke about the impact of AI on the job market: noting that ‘to a certain degree job displacement is inevitable’. He outlined the need to prepare and adapt the workforce to the new and emerging requirements on the job market.