Tag: Department of Commerce

Commerce Department Launches Cross-Sector Consortium on AI Safety — AI: The Washington Report

  1. The Department of Commerce has launched the US AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), a multistakeholder body tasked with developing AI safety standards and practices.
  2. The AISIC is currently composed of over 200 members representing industry, academia, labor, and civil society.
  3. The consortium may play an important role in implementing key provisions of President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI, including the development of guidelines on red-team testing[1] for AI and the creation of a companion resource to the AI Risk Management Framework.

Introduction: “First-Ever Consortium Dedicated to AI Safety” Launches

On February 8, 2024, the Department of Commerce announced the creation of the US AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), a multistakeholder body housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The purpose of the AISIC is to facilitate the development and adoption of AI safety standards and practices.

The AISIC has brought together over 200 organizations from industry, labor, academia, and civil society, with more members likely to join in the coming months.

Biden AI Executive Order Tasks Commerce Department with AI Safety Efforts

On October 30, 2023, President Joe Biden signed a wide-ranging executive order on AI (“AI EO”). This executive order has mobilized agencies across the federal bureaucracy to implement policies, convene consortiums, and issue reports on AI. Among other provisions, the AI EO directs the Department of Commerce (DOC) to establish “guidelines and best practices, with the aim of promoting consensus…[and] for developing and deploying safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems.”

Responding to this mandate, the DOC established the US Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (AISI) in November 2023. The role of the AISI is to “lead the U.S. government’s efforts on AI safety and trust, particularly for evaluating the most advanced AI models.” Concretely, the AISI is tasked with developing AI safety guidelines and standards and liaising with the AI safety bodies of partner nations.

The AISI is also responsible for convening multistakeholder fora on AI safety. It is in pursuance of this responsibility that the DOC has convened the AISIC.

The Responsibilities of the AISIC

“The U.S. government has a significant role to play in setting the standards and developing the tools we need to mitigate the risks and harness the immense potential of artificial intelligence,” said DOC Secretary Gina Raimondo in a statement announcing the launch of the AISIC. “President Biden directed us to pull every lever to accomplish two key goals: set safety standards and protect our innovation ecosystem. That’s precisely what the U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium is set up to help us do.”

To achieve the objectives set out by the AI EO, the AISIC has convened leading AI developers, research institutions, and civil society groups. At launch, the AISIC has over 200 members, and that number will likely grow in the coming months.

According to NIST, members of the AISIC will engage in the following objectives:

  1. Guide the evolution of industry standards on the development and deployment of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI.
  2. Develop methods for evaluating AI capabilities, especially those that are potentially harmful.
  3. Encourage secure development practices for generative AI.
  4. Ensure the availability of testing environments for AI tools.
  5. Develop guidance and practices for red-team testing and privacy-preserving machine learning.
  6. Create guidance and tools for digital content authentication.
  7. Encourage the development of AI-related workforce skills.
  8. Conduct research on human-AI system interactions and other social implications of AI.
  9. Facilitate understanding among actors operating across the AI ecosystem.

To join the AISIC, organizations were instructed to submit a letter of intent via an online webform. If selected for participation, applicants were asked to sign a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)[2] with NIST. Entities that could not participate in a CRADA were, in some cases, given the option to “participate in the Consortium pursuant to separate non-CRADA agreement.”

While the initial deadline to submit a letter of intent has passed, NIST has provided that there “may be continuing opportunity to participate even after initial activity commences for participants who were not selected initially or have submitted the letter of interest after the selection process.” Inquiries regarding AISIC membership may be directed to this email address.

Conclusion: The AISIC as a Key Implementer of the AI EO?

While at the time of writing NIST has not announced concrete initiatives that the AISIC will undertake, it is likely that the body will come to play an important role in implementing key provisions of Biden’s AI EO. As discussed earlier, NIST created the AISI and the AISIC in response to the AI EO’s requirement that DOC establish “guidelines and best practices…for developing and deploying safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems.” Under this general heading, the AI EO lists specific resources and frameworks that the DOC must establish, including:

It is premature to assert that either the AISI or the AISIC will exclusively carry out these goals, as other bodies within the DOC (such as the National AI Research Resource) may also contribute to the satisfaction of these requirements. That being said, given the correspondence between these mandates and the goals of the AISIC, along with the multistakeholder and multisectoral structure of the consortium, it is likely that the AISIC will play a significant role in carrying out these tasks.

We will continue to provide updates on the AISIC and related DOC AI initiatives. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions as to current practices or how to proceed.

Endnotes

[1] As explained in our July 2023 newsletter on Biden’s voluntary framework on AI, “red-teaming” is “a strategy whereby an entity designates a team to emulate the behavior of an adversary attempting to break or exploit the entity’s technological systems. As the red team discovers vulnerabilities, the entity patches them, making their technological systems resilient to actual adversaries.”

[2] See “CRADAs – Cooperative Research & Development Agreements” for an explanation of CRADAs. https://www.doi.gov/techtransfer/crada.

Raj Gambhir contributed to this article.

©1994-2024 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. All Rights Reserved.
For more on AI Safety, visit the NLR Communications, Media & Internet section.

International Trade, Enforcement & Compliance Recent Developments Update (January 17, 2024)

One of the most consistent messages coming from the U.S. government is that multinational companies need to take control of their supply chains. Forced labor, human trafficking, supply chain transparency, OFAC sanctions, even conflict minerals — all are areas in which the best defense against potential violations is strong compliance and due diligence to ensure that companies properly manage their supply chains, rights down to the last supplier. Today’s mix of enforcement actions and guidance from the U.S. government underscores the importance of doing so.

EXPORT CONTROLS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The Department of Commerce has stated that it has the authority to put companies on the Entity List (requiring special licensing and restrictions) solely for human rights violations. Does your company conduct full due diligence on its suppliers and sub-suppliers to ensure that they are operating in accordance with U.S. forced labor and human trafficking laws?

FORCED LABOR/UFLPA

The Department of Homeland Security continues to add Chinese and other companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor and Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. Does your organization specifically screen against the UFLPA Entity List, as well as have in place UFLPA compliance and due diligence measures?

FORCED LABOR/UFLPA

The U.S. government has issued a pointed six-agency set of compliance guidelines regarding “the Risks and Considerations for Businesses and Individuals with Exposure to Entities Engaged in Forced Labor and other Human Rights Abuses linked to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” Does your organization maintain a compliance policy, vendor code of conduct, supply chain transparency and due diligence procedures, and other measures designed to ensure your supply chain is free of forced labor, human trafficking, or goods sourced from forced labor in the Xingjian Autonomous Region?

CUSTOMS PENALTY FOR ERRONEOUS USE OF FIRST SALE RULE

Due to the imposition of special Section 301 tariffs on most goods from Customs, many companies have begun to use the first sale rule, which allows the reporting of a lower value where there is a bona fide sale to a middleman. Improper application of the rule, however, can be the basis for substantial penalties, as an apparel company that paid a $1.3 million settlement with the DOJ found out. If your company uses the first sale rule, do you regularly review pricing and relevant circumstances to ensure you are meeting all the requirements for all entries?

EXPORT CONTROLS

Pledging “a new era of trilateral partnership,” the U.S., Japan, and South Korea governments have announced expanded collaboration to fight illegal exports of dual-use products, including high-tech products that might be shipped to China in violation of U.S. export controls. Has your organization performed a recent classification review to confirm it is aware of any restrictions that might adhere to the export of any of its products to sensitive countries, governments, or users?

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For more on Trade and Enforcement, visit the NLR Antitrust & Trade Regulation section.

Department of Commerce Releases Fact Sheet on EU-U.S. Privacy Shield

As we reported yesterday, the United States and the European Commission have reached a political agreement on a new framework for transatlantic data flows, referred to as the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield.  The U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) released a fact sheet yesterday to coincide with the announcement of the agreement.

The fact sheet includes a series of bullet points listing ways in which the Privacy Shield (1) “significantly improves commercial oversight and enhances privacy protections,” and (2) “demonstrates the U.S. Commitments to limitations and safeguards on national security.”  On the first point, Commerce states that “EU individuals will have access to multiple avenues to resolve concerns,” including alternative dispute resolution at no cost to individuals.  In addition, Commerce “will step in directly and use best efforts to resolve referred complaints” using a “special team with significant new resources.”  On the second point, the fact sheet references President Obama’s executive actions to enhance privacy protections and oversight relating to U.S. government surveillance activities.  Finally, Commerce states that “the United States is making the commitment to respond to appropriate requests” regarding U.S. intelligence activity, in a manner that is consistent with national security obligations.

Article By David J. Bender of Covington & Burling LLP
© 2016 Covington & Burling LLP