The first-ever National Security Memorandum (NSM) on Artificial Intelligence was issued by President Biden on Thursday, October 24.
The memorandum directs the federal government to take action to improve the security and diversity of chip supply chains and to provide AI developers with cybersecurity and counterintelligence to keep their inventions secure.
According to a senior administration official, “The NSM’s fundamental premise is that advances at the frontier of AI will have significant implications for national security and foreign policy in the near future.”
Three principles guided the NSM:
- The U.S. should lead the world’s development of safe and trustworthy AI and a subsequent framework for its use.
- The U.S. should harness the most advanced AI systems with appropriate safeguards to achieve national security objectives.
- The U.S. should ensure that the use of AI aligns with government’s values.
A companion document was released along with the memo to specify how agencies can and cannot use AI.