National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Holds Inaugural Meeting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, a federally appointed Commission tasked with advising the federal government on artificial intelligence, held its inaugural meeting on March 11 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan Commission was established by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 and is comprised of 15 Commissioners including a Chairman and Vice Chairman.

The Commission will review and advise on the competitiveness of the United States in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other associated technologies, including matters related to national security, defense, public-private partnerships, and investments.

“I’m honored to lead this talented group of Commissioners as we take on this important effort,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Commission. “I want to thank the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and Senate and House AI Caucuses for their support and look forward to presenting our findings in the future, and particularly Senator Martin Heinrich and Representatives Elise Stefanik and Jerry McNerney, who joined us to discuss Congressional intent and expectations. We have a tremendous opportunity to help our government understand the state of artificial intelligence and offer ideas on how to harness this transformative technology to benefit both our economic and national security interests.”

At yesterday’s AI Orientation Seminar, the Commissioners received briefs from the Defense and Commerce departments, the intelligence community, and Members of Congress.

In close collaboration with the White House, Interagency, and Congress the Commission intends to conduct plenary sessions with the Commissioners throughout the year with subordinate working groups meeting more often.

About the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence:

H.R. 5515, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, section 1051, establishes the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (the Commission) to review advances in artificial intelligence, related machine learning developments, and associated technologies including recommendations to more effectively organize the Federal Government.

The Commissioners:

Commissioners were appointed by the secretaries of Defense and Commerce, as well as the top Republicans and Democrats on congressional armed services, commerce and intelligence committees.

Chairman

  • Dr. Eric Schmidt, Technical Advisor to Alphabet

Vice Chairman

  • Hon. Robert Work, Senior Counselor for Defense at Center for a New American Security

Other Commissioners:

  • Ms. Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle
  • Dr. Steve Chien, Technical Group Supervisor of AI Group and Senior Research Scientist at California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Lab
  • Ms. Mignon Clyburn, Open Society Foundation Fellow and former FCC Commissioner
  • Chris Darby, CEO of In-Q-Tel
  • Dr. Kenneth Ford, CEO of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
  • Dr. Jose-Marie Griffiths, president of Dakota State University
  • Dr. Eric Horvitz, director of Microsoft Research Labs
  • Mr. Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services
  • Mr. Gilman Louie, partner at Alsop Louie Partners
  • Dr. William Mark, director of SRI’s Information and Computing Sciences Division
  • Dr. Jason Matheny, founding director of the Center on Security and Emerging Technology
  • Hon. Katharina McFarland, consultant at Cypress International and former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology)
  • Dr. Andrew Moore, VP of Engineering and head of Google Cloud AI

Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus Co-Chairs:

Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Rob Portman (R-OH)

House Artificial Intelligence Caucus Co-Chairs:

Representatives Jerry McNerney (D-California) and Pete Olson (R-Texas)

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