Federal Government Issues AI, AV Guidance

Regulators tend to lag behind robots. To adapt, the U.S. issued two new guidelines last week that I refuse to let flashier CES news bury.

Autonomous vehicles

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced AV 4.0, an updated proposal of autonomous driving rules spanning 38 federal departments and agencies.

The Department of Transportation’s plans:

• Prioritize safety and security
• Promote innovation (at South by Southwest in March, Chao said she wanted the DOT to encourage emerging tech in transportation)
• Ensure a consistent regulatory approach

The DOT has also been vocal about keeping regulations tech neutral, modernizing federal rules, adjusting the definition of a “driver” to accommodate self-driving software, and preserving the 5.9 GHz spectrum for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications (so cars can “talk” to each other).

Artificial intelligence

Last week, the White House circulated a memo offering guidance to the federal agencies regulating AI in fields like healthcare, transportation, education, finance, and manufacturing. The guidelines propose that AI regulations consider “equity, human dignity, fairness, potential distributive impacts, privacy and civil liberties, and personal freedom.”

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios argued in Bloomberg that the “first-of-its-kind” proposal advances the emerging technology while allowing the U.S. to follow its “moral compass.”

The guidance also calls for the government to hold back on regulation that restricts AI development. For that reason and the vagueness of the principles, Wired called the guidance a “light touch in regulating AI.” Plus, the rules won’t affect federal law enforcement’s use of facial recognition, which is one of the most controversial applications of AI today.

Bottom line: When it comes to self-driving cars or AI systems used in credit-scoring and hiring, laissez-faire won’t cut it. But we’ll need to wait until implementation to see whether federal regulations go beyond lip service.