Issue Position: A National AI Strategy

Issue Position

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform our economy, but without an effective national strategy to prepare our workforce 54 million workers could be displaced by 2030.

We need a National AI Strategy focused on employment, security, and ethics. If we lose our global leadership in developing these technologies, the economic risks are potentially devastating.

The U.S. must create a whole of government strategy that will provide the tools and skills necessary for the country to win the international AI race. For that to occur, the U.S. must:

Prioritize resources to eliminate gaps in national abilities compared to other high-tech countries
Invest in areas of research that deserve additional funding
Develop incentives for high-tech professionals to work for the government
Support an immigration system that values high-tech professionals
Crack down on international intellectual property (IP) theft
Delaney's AI proposal would set up an interagency coordinated process to better prepare the U.S. for the AI revolution focusing on four main points:

1. The Future of Work
Upgrade educational curriculums to ensure the U.S. has the technical talent needed for jobs of the future
Close the skills gap in the U.S. by enacting universal Prek-14 (two-year community college or technical school) to ensure the U.S. population is educated and prepared for jobs of the future
Transition to portable benefits, including decoupling health care from employment, to allow for Americans to seek new jobs and new opportunities without the burden of feeling tied to a single employer
Develop a social contract with the communities that are negatively impacted by AI, including expanding worker retraining programs
Support public/private AI partnerships to promote coordination between government and private sector
Incentivize the private sector to offer employer-sponsored training and education
2. National Security
Advance AI defense capabilities to ensure the U.S. can defend against future technological threats
Lead the international community in establishing rules of engagement to ensure the technology does not lead to a lower threshold for violence
3. Privacy
Develop federal privacy standards to ensure transparency of how advanced technology is impacting individuals' rights
For example: Companies should not be able to use your smartphone or other device to monitor your facial expressions as you look at content and ads without your consent
4. Programming Bias
While it is tempting to think AI can make unbiased decisions, we actually risk bias being baked-in to the programming that perpetuates human bias with no clear ways to rectify it once the bias is incorporated into the algorithms
Partner with the private sector and non-profits to develop best practices against AI technology inheriting human biases

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