Presidential AI advisers sign off on 10 priority recommendations for Trump

An artificial intelligence advisory panel created during the first Trump administration is delivering the president a list of 10 actionable AI priorities to pursue as he begins his second term.

The National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, established under section 5104 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act and signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2020, voted Tuesday in favor of a 10-priority draft document of “timely AI policy issues and proposed solutions.” 

The recommendations laid out in that document, NAIAC said, should “provide an opportunity for the administration to achieve its goals to advance the United States’ continued AI leadership and competitiveness.”

Miriam Vogel, NAIAC’s chair and the president and CEO of EqualAI, said during Tuesday’s virtual public meeting that the panel wanted to “commend” Trump and his administration for “their public commitment to addressing these critical issues so early in the new” term. 

“We look forward to working with the newly appointed staff, many of whom are familiar to us and have been involved in NAIAC since its inception,” Vogel continued. “Their experience and their expertise will be very important as we work together to focus on and achieve these AI priorities.”

The 10 recommendations from NAIAC — which has only been operational during the Biden administration — cover AI awareness and literacy, workforce, education, health, government, governance, law enforcement, science and small business, as well as AI “for the American people.” 

Raising awareness about the technology should be a top priority for this administration, said Susan Gonzales, the CEO of the nonprofit AIandYou and lead NAIAC member on the AI literacy recommendation. 

“Our recommendation is to launch a national AI literacy campaign, simply to raise curiosity and hopefully to lower fear,” she said. The White House would “serve as a convener” of the campaign “to help people become more comfortable with the idea of AI tools.”

NAIAC’s workforce recommendation speaks to that overarching goal of growing Americans’ comfort with the technology. The document calls for federal, state and local collaboration on workforce issues, plus an “intergovernmental summit on AI and American prosperity.” There’s also a component aimed at supporting workers in danger of being “displaced” by AI. 

“When we are expecting people to navigate the changes ahead, every bit of friction and inconvenience and frustration can delay people being as ready and as competitive as they can to contribute to our overall growth,” said Trooper Sanders, NAIAC’s workforce chair. “And so focusing on this comprehensive streamlining will not only help individuals, but it will also fuel our economic growth and success.”

Other recommendations have specific callouts for federal agencies, including the creation of a Small Business Administration-led task force on AI use cases and best practices; the development of a Department of Education and National Institute of Standards and Technology partnership on an AI risk management profile for educators; and the authorization of and increased funding for NIST’s AI Safety Institute.

At the executive branch level, NAIAC recommends a fully staffed and resourced National AI Initiative Office and an Office of Science and Technology Policy-led push to solicit public comments on the AI priorities for the administration, along with the release of an “AI for the American People” strategy. 

Other recommendations would establish a model to evaluate, test and assess AI systems “that builds on the success of” FedRAMP, and the standing up of a dormant federal health IT council. 

It remains to be seen how receptive Trump will be to NAIAC’s recommendations; the board’s NIST-hosted website still exists, but links lower on the page, including one to member bios, now point to WhiteHouse.gov. 

The recommendations, Vogel said, are “intended to be the start of a dialog with the administration’s AI leadership, so that we can be focused and coherent and committed to fulfilling the purpose outlined in the committee’s mandate.”