The US Department of Commerce has announced important measures to enforce last October President Biden's Executive Order on AI, including guidance documents, procedures for international standards, and measurement programs open for public comments.

180 days after President Biden's Executive Order (EO) on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development of artificial intelligence (AI), the US Department of Commerce revealed that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued four draft reports to improve AI systems. NIST introduced NIST GenAI, a new program to measure generative AI technologies, as part of the institute's response to the EO. The goal is to use its findings to direct the work of the AI Safety Institute.

NIST has also designed a 'challenge series' to help craft strategies for detecting AI-generated content.
In addition, the department's US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is opening a request for public comment (RFC) to gather input on how AI may impact the assessment of the 'knowledge of a person having ordinary skill in the art' to resolve whether an invention is patentable under US law. Earlier this year, the USPTO had issued guidance on the patentability of AI-assisted inventions.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo declared that 'with these resources and the previous work on AI from the department, we are continuing to support responsible innovation in AI and America's technological leadership.'

Why does it matter?

The EO aims to build US capacity to 'evaluate and mitigate the risks of AI systems while promoting an innovative and competitive AI ecosystem that supports workers and protects consumers.' With these initiatives, the NIST will develop effective evaluation guidelines, testing environments, and information resources, to help organizations develop, deploy, and use AI technologies that are safe, secure, and enhance AI trustworthiness.

As instructed by the EO, the Department of Commerce's actions are part of a wider effort by the Biden administration to ensure that AI development is safe, secure, and trustworthy and that the US maintains its global leadership.