Artificial intelligence and democratic values

Marc Rotenberg & Merve Hickok, Council on Foreign Relations - More than fifty years after a research group at Dartmouth University launched work on a new field called “Artificial Intelligence,” the United States still lacks a national strategy on artificial intelligence policy…. “Democratic values” is a key theme as the United States seeks to draw a sharp distinction between the deployment of technologies that advance open, pluralist societies and those that centralize control and enable surveillance…But absent a legislative agenda or clear statement of principles, neither allies nor adversaries are clear about the U.S. AI policy objectives...

To restore leadership in the AI policy domain, the United States should move forward the policy initiative launched last year by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The science office outlined many of the risks of AI, including embedded bias and widespread surveillance, and called for an AI Bill of Rights.  OSTP said, “Our country should clarify the rights and freedoms we expect data-driven technologies to respect.”