In part 1 of this series, I examined the executive order (EO) in terms of its implications for federal departments that deal with national security issues. In this post, I’ll examine a few issues related to safety and fairness in AI.

The use of machine learning in decision making systems such as COMPAS, have raised many concerns of fairness in AI. The criminal justice system is a hot button area when it comes to issues of race and discrimination. And quite rightly so, this issue is one of the major focus area in the White House Executive Order. The order calls upon the Department of Justice and Federal Civil rights offices to address algorithmic discrimination.

What was surprising to me was that the order called out landlords, and by implication the rental industry as being a source of discrimination. The order asks for clear guidance to be provided to landlords such that there is no discrimination in housing decisions. Reading more on this topic, I discovered that there’s been a fair bit of reporting on this issue.

When it comes to safety, health care is a highly regulated industry. In fact, when it comes to regulation, the industries that most people are comfortable with regulation include nuclear, airlines and medicines (drugs and other health care related products). AI has the power to transform how drugs are created and tested. Hence the EO, specifically calls out that we need to advance the responsible use of AI in health care.

The EO also acknowledges that AI can impact the workforce. This is a topic that most people are worried about because AI has the power to obsolete many jobs that humans currently do in the industry. The EO asks to develop principles and best practices to mitigate these harms.

Overall, the EO is big on wording that on the surface most of us can agree on. The devil is in the details on how these things will be regulated. It will be a gargantuan task to monitor and regulate software applications over so many domains. It is good starting framework that clearly identifies areas of importance from the perspectives of national security and public health and safety. I’m looking forward to seeing how this area evolves and how the private sector steps up.