Plenary Session #2: AI, the Global Environment, and U.S. Government Strategies

On May 20, 2019, AI experts from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Security Council, and the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment briefed the Commissioners on their current strategies and views on AI-related national security issues from foreign policy, security, and defense-related perspectives.

After receiving briefings, the Commissioners met in their working groups with staff to discuss progress on the staff’s research and analysis. During its executive session of all Commissioners, they agreed that there should be three phases to get the Commission to its final report: the assessment phase, where Commissioners and staff will be in listening mode, gathering information from a variety of experts; the analysis phase, where Commissioners and staff develop initial judgments; and the findings phase, where Commissioners and staff refine their assessments into the final recommendations to Congress. These phases will meet the suggested reporting deadlines to Congress–an Initial Report due in July, an Interim Report due in November, and a Final Report due in March 2021.

The working group chairs provided readouts from their working group meetings. After previously organizing themselves into five working groups, the Commissioners agreed to streamline their focus areas into four working groups. They also endorsed the staff’s recommendation to establish three staff-led Special Project Groups that will focus on cross-cutting issues important to all of the working groups: public-private partnerships, ethical development and use of AI, and data for national security.

The Commissioners asked the staff to present a draft of the Initial Report for discussion and approval at the next plenary meeting, and they agreed their next meeting would be in July. Before closing, the Commissioners received a briefing on the AI tech landscape.