U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order related to artificial intelligence. Biden signed the order on Monday. He said the government needs to move quickly to work with companies developing artificial intelligence or AI technology. Jeff Zients, Biden’s chief of staff, said the president once said, “we can’t move at the normal government pace.” Biden signed an executive order that requires technology companies working on AI projects to develop rules to protect consumers. An executive order permits the president to tell a U.S. government agency how to act on an issue that lawmakers have not yet dealt with. In the order, Biden said he is using the Defense Production Act, which permits the government, under some conditions, to direct the activities of private businesses. By signing the order, Biden is moving ahead of the U.S. Congress. The executive order goes past voluntary agreements made by companies such as Meta and Google to make AI technology safer for regular people. The new order requires technology companies that want to use AI in applications for security, the economy, public health and safety to share information with the U.S. government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology will work to create tests that new AI tools must pass before they are released to the public.
