US president issues executive order on trustworthy AI in federal government

US President Donald Trump has issued an Executive Order on Promoting the use of trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) in the federal government. The order notes that federal agencies must design, develop, acquire, and use AI in a manner that fosters public trust and confidence; while protecting privacy, civil rights and liberties, and American values. It then sets out principles that should guide the design, development, acquisition, and use of AI in the federal government for purposes other than national security and defense. Principles are listed as: lawful and respectful of American values; purposeful and performance-driven (so that AI benefits outweigh the costs); accurate, reliable, and effective; safe, secure, and resilient; understandable; responsible and traceable; regularly monitored; transparent; and accountable. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is mandated to develop a roadmap for the policy guidance that the OMB intends to create or revise to better support the use of AI in line with the order. Federal agencies are required to prepare (and make public) inventories of their non-classified and non-sensitive use cases of AI, and to develop plans either to achieve consistency with the order for each AI application or to retire AI applications developed or used in a manner that is not consistent with the order.