by Angela Guess
Greg Watry reports in R&D Magazine, “Get ready because artificial intelligence is on the White House’s radar, and it’s taking the field seriously. The White House this week announced the new National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will meet for the first time next week, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will cohost four workshops to create a dialogue around the positives and negatives of artificial intelligence and machine learning. ‘Like any transformative technology … artificial intelligence carries some risk and presents complex policy challenges along several dimensions, from jobs and the economy to safety and regulatory questions,’ Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Ed Felten wrote. ‘For example, A.I. will create new jobs while phasing out some old ones—magnifying the importance of programs like TechHire that are preparing our workforce with the skills to get ahead in today’s economy, and tomorrow’s’.”
Watry goes on, “The following workshops will be held over the next few months: Legal and Governance Implications of Artificial Intelligence, held in Seattle on May, 24; Artificial Intelligence for Social Good, held in Washington, D.C., on June 7; Safety and Control for Artificial Intelligence, held in Pittsburgh on June 28; The Social and Economic Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Near-Term, held in New York City on July 7. According to Felten, the new subcommittee is meant to monitor advances and milestones in the field, including in the federal realm, the private sector, and internationally.”
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