As artificial intelligence begins to affect more aspects of society, the White House is taking steps to leverage the technology while safeguarding the nation’s security.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden issued the country’s first National Security Memorandum on AI to ensure the United States retains its leadership in the technology and is able to support its growth with domestically made semiconductors and renewable energy.

What You Need To Know

  • The White House is taking steps to leverage AI technology while safeguarding the nation’s security

  • On Thursday, President Biden issued the country's first National Security Memorandum on Ai to ensure the United States retains its leadership in the technology and is able to support its growth with domestically made semiconductors and renewable energy

  • The CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act are funding the systems needed to maintain US dominance

  • The new NSM is a direct result of the president’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence from October 2023, which required federal agencies to develop a government-wide approach to help guide the safe development and responsible use of the technology

“The innovation that's happened, particularly in this current wave of frontier artificial intelligence, has really been driven by the private sector.  And it's critical that we continue to both foster that leadership but ensure that the government, and particularly with this National Security Memorandum, ensure that our national security agencies are adopting these technologies in ways that align with our values,” a senior administration official said Wednesday during a briefing about the memorandum.
 
“A failure to take advantage of this leadership and adopt this technology we worry could put us at risk of a strategic surprise by our rivals, such as China," the official added.

The official said AI has significant national security applications, including for cybersecurity, counterintelligence, logistics and activities that support military operations.

“Because countries like China recognize similar opportunities to modernize and revolutionize their own military and intelligence capabilities using artificial intelligence, it’s particularly imperative that we accelerate our national security community’s adoption and use of cutting-edge Ai capabilities to maintain our competitive edge,” the official said.

Several laws passed during the Biden-Harris administration will enable the U.S. to maintain its lead in the space forged by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and IBM, National Security Advisor Lael Brainard said in a statement about the memorandum Thursday. The CHIPS and Science Act will invest almost $53 billion in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research and development and workforce training, while the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act are making billions of dollars in investments to increase clean energy production to power it.

The new NSM is a direct result of the president’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence from October 2023, which required federal agencies to develop a government-wide approach to help guide the safe development and responsible use of the technology.

The NSM was developed so the U.S. can lead the world’s development of safe, secure and trustworthy AI and establish a path for international governance of the technology. A companion document called the Framework for AI Governance and Risk Management for National Security informs agencies how they can and cannot use AI.