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AMERICAN ARTIFICIAL 

INTELLIGENCE INITIATIVE:

YEAR ONE ANNUAL REPORT

Prepared by

THE WHITE HOUSE

OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY

FEBRUARY 2020
AMERICAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INITIATIVE: YEAR ONE ANNUAL REPORT

Continued American leadership in AI is of 

paramount importance to maintaining the 

economic and national security of the United 

States and to shaping the global evolution of 

AI in a manner consistent with our Nation's 

values, policies, and priorities. 

—President Donald J. Trump, February 11, 2019. 
AMERICAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INITIATIVE: YEAR ONE ANNUAL REPORT

February 2020

Dear Colleagues,

As we mark one year since President Donald J. Trump launched the American Artificial Intelligence 

Initiative, the Trump Administration has made critical progress in carrying out this national strategy 

and continues to make United States leadership in AI a top priority. In addition to establishing strategic 

areas of emphasis for United States AI research and development (R&D) and accelerated adoption of 

AI-enabled capabilities, the American AI Initiative directed Federal agencies to take specific actions that 

support its objectives. 

President Trump made history when he became the first president to name artificial intelligence as an 

Administration R&D priority in 2017 — and since then, America has never looked back. The Trump 

Administration has called for record amounts of AI R&D investment, led the development of the first 

international statement on AI Principles, issued the first-ever strategy for engagement in AI technical 

standards, published the first-ever reporting of government-wide non-defense AI R&D spending, and 

released the first-ever AI regulatory document for the trustworthy development, testing, deployment, 

and adoption of AI technologies. 

Under this Administration, the United States continues to be the best place in the world for AI 

technology to flourish and be developed for the benefit of all people. Our Nation is home to the world’s 

top universities for AI, our research publications and patents stand out among our peers and 

competitors, and our AI industry is booming. American researchers, scientists, and technologists are 

advancing AI that improves medical diagnoses, makes our roads safer, assists first responders during 

emergencies, and helps farmers and researchers yield healthier crops.

America will maintain its global leadership in AI not through top-down government policies, but 

through our unparalleled innovation ecosystem where Federal agencies, the academic community, 

private sector innovators, and nonprofits each have a unique and necessary role, not to mention the 

synergistic effects of collaboration among these stakeholders. The American AI Initiative serves as a 

north star guiding this proven innovation model.

In a time of global power competition, our leadership in AI has never been more of an imperative. We 

remain committed to supporting the development and application of AI in a way that promotes public 

trust, protects civil liberties, and respects the privacy and dignity of every individual. 

Under the American AI Initiative, the United States will continue to embrace AI as a key industry of the 

future that will help all Americans live longer, happier, and healthier lives. 

Sincerely,

Michael Kratsios Lynne E. Parker

United States Chief Technology Officer Deputy United States Chief Technology Officer
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Table of Contents

Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... iii

Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1

Invest in AI Research and Development................................................................................ 4

Prioritize investments in AI R&D .............................................................................................................. 4

Drive future technological breakthroughs in AI...................................................................................... 5

Support R&D addressing AI technical hurdles to trust ........................................................................... 6

Coordinate cross-agency AI investments................................................................................................ 8

Track progress on Federally funded AI R&D............................................................................................... 9

Unleash AI Resources ........................................................................................................10

Increase access to Federal datasets for AI R&D and testing................................................................. 10

Prioritize allocation of high-performance computing resources for AI................................................. 11

Enable better use of cloud computing to advance Federally funded AI R&D...................................... 11

Remove Barriers to AI Innovation .......................................................................................13

Foster trust in applications of AI............................................................................................................ 13

Provide regulatory guidance for AI........................................................................................................ 13

Develop relevant technical standards................................................................................................... 15

Train an AI-Ready Workforce..............................................................................................17

Align education to future workforce needs ......................................................................................... 17

Prioritize AI within existing Federal fellowship and service programs ................................................ 18

Leverage research to improve educational quality and opportunity .................................................. 18

Promote an International Environment Supportive of American AI Innovation.........................20

Engage internationally to promote trustworthy AI innovation............................................................ 20

Promote and implement international principles on AI stewardship ................................................. 21

Embrace Trustworthy AI for Government Services and Missions ............................................23

Leverage private sector expertise to improve government services using AI ..................................... 23

Accelerate government adoption through interagency collaboration................................................ 24

Advance Federal agency progress ......................................................................................................... 24

Develop an AI-ready Federal workforce ................................................................................................ 25

Build trust in the use of AI in government............................................................................................. 25

Endnotes .........................................................................................................................26

Abbreviations...................................................................................................................28
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Executive Summary

On February 11, 2019, President Donald J. Trump launched the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative,

1

the Nation’s strategy for promoting American leadership in AI, by signing Executive Order 13859.

2 The 

American AI Initiative focuses the resources of the Federal Government to support AI innovation that 

will increase prosperity, enhance national security, and improve quality of life for the American people. 

Since the signing of the Executive Order, the United States has made significant progress on achieving 

the objectives of this national strategy. This document provides both a summary of progress and a 

continued long-term vision for the American AI Initiative. This national strategy for promoting United 

States leadership in AI emphasizes the following key policies and practices: 

1) Invest in AI research and development: The United States must promote Federal investment in 

AI R&D in collaboration with industry, academia, international partners and allies, and other nonFederal entities to generate technological breakthroughs in AI. President Trump called for a 

2-year doubling of non-defense AI R&D in his fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget proposal,

3 and in 2019 

the Administration updated its AI R&D strategic plan,

4 developed the first progress report 

describing the impact of Federal R&D investments,

5 and published the first-ever reporting of 

government-wide non-defense AI R&D spending.

6

2) Unleash AI resources: The United States must enhance access to high-quality Federal data, 

models, and computing resources to increase their value for AI R&D, while maintaining and 

extending safety, security, privacy, and confidentiality protections. The American AI Initiative 

called on Federal agencies to identify new opportunities 7 to increase access to and use of Federal 

data and models. In 2019, the White House Office of Management and Budget established the 

Federal Data Strategy 8 as a framework for operational principles and best practices around how 

Federal agencies use and manage data. 

3) Remove barriers to AI innovation: The United States must reduce barriers to the safe 

development, testing, deployment, and adoption of AI technologies by providing guidance for 

the governance of AI consistent with our Nation’s values and by driving the development of 

appropriate AI technical standards. As part of the American AI Initiative, The White House 

published for comment the proposed United States AI Regulatory Principles,

9 the first AI 

regulatory policy that advances innovation underpinned by American values and good 

regulatory practices. In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 

issued the first-ever strategy for Federal engagement in the development of AI technical 

standards.

10 

4) Train an AI-ready workforce: The United States must empower current and future generations 

of American workers through apprenticeships; skills programs; and education in science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with an emphasis on computer science, to 

ensure that American workers, including Federal workers, are capable of taking full advantage of 

the opportunities of AI. President Trump directed all Federal agencies to prioritize AI-related 
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apprenticeship and job training programs and opportunities. In addition to its R&D focus, the 

National Science Foundation’s new National AI Research Institutes 11 program will also contribute

to workforce development, particularly of AI researchers.

5) Promote an international environment supportive of American AI innovation: The United 

States must engage internationally to promote a global environment that supports American AI 

research and innovation and opens markets for American AI industries while also protecting our 

technological advantage in AI. Last year, the United States led historic efforts at the Organisation 

for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to develop the first international consensus 

agreements on fundamental principles for the stewardship of trustworthy AI.

12 The United States

also worked with its international partners in the G7 and G20 to adopt similar AI principles. 

6) Embrace trustworthy AI for government services and missions: The United States must 

embrace technology such as artificial intelligence to improve the provision and efficiency of 

government services to the American people and ensure its application shows due respect for 

our Nation’s values, including privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. The General Services 

Administration established an AI Center of Excellence 13 to enable Federal agencies to determine 

best practices for incorporating AI into their organizations. 

America’s strong innovation ecosystem, fueled by strategic Federal investments, visionary scientists 

and entrepreneurs, and renowned research institutions, has propelled United States global leadership

in AI. However, continued leadership is not predetermined. Maintaining America’s preeminent role in 

AI can only be realized by continually building upon our progress and pursuing a strategic, forwardlooking approach in partnership with industry, academia, nonprofit organizations, and other nonFederal entities (see box below).

Global leadership in AI matters. With the United States in the lead — together with like-minded allies — we 

will shape the trajectory of AI development for the good of the American people — enriching our lives, 

promoting innovation, fostering trust and understanding, and ensuring our national defense and security.

Importance of partnerships to maintaining United States leadership in AI

In all areas of strategic emphasis, partnerships and collaboration with academia, industry, nonprofit

organizations, civil society, other non-Federal entities, and international partners and allies are of 

growing importance. Concurrent advances across government, universities, and industry mutually 

reinforce an innovative, vibrant American AI sector. Public-private partnerships enable strategic 

leveraging of resources, including facilities, datasets, and expertise. These partnerships also 

accelerate the transition of research innovations to practice, by leveraging industry expertise to turn 

open and published research results into viable products and services in the marketplace for 

economic growth. In the education and workforce area, partnerships are enhancing education and 

training for next-generation researchers, technicians, and workers, so that all can contribute to the 

21st century economy. Partnerships with nonprofit organizations and civil society can help address 

important societal challenges arising from technological developments. The Nation also benefits 

from relationships between Federal agencies and international partners who work together to 

address key challenges. AI partnerships with allies and partners represent one of our sources of 

strategic competitive advantage.
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Introduction

Maintaining American leadership in AI requires a concerted effort to promote advancements in 

technology and innovation, while protecting American technology, economic and national 

security, civil liberties, privacy, and American values, and enhancing international and industry 

collaboration with foreign partners and allies. (Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every segment of American life, with applications ranging from 

medical diagnostics and precision agriculture, to advanced manufacturing and autonomous 

transportation, to national security and defense. The pace of AI development is rapid, and new 

technologies — like machine learning, autonomous systems, and natural language processing —

continue to widen the scope of applications. AI is already having a substantial economic impact, not 

only for companies whose core business is AI, but also for nearly all other companies as they discover 

the need to adopt AI technologies to stay globally competitive.

The United States is the global leader in AI research, development, and adoption. Continued American 

leadership in AI will ensure that the United States reaps the benefits of these advancements in a manner 

consistent with our Nation’s values, policies, and priorities. Maintaining American leadership in AI 

requires a multipronged strategy to drive advancement and adoption of AI while also upholding civil 

rights, civil liberties, privacy, and other American values, and protecting our technology advantage. 

In May 2018, The White House hosted its Artificial Intelligence for American Industry summit (see box

on the next page), which brought together senior experts from across the United States to discuss 

policies needed to ensure American leadership in AI. The ideas shared at that meeting led to continued 

discussions that informed the development of a national strategy for promoting United States

leadership in AI.

To further this strategy, on February 11, 2019, President Trump signed the Executive Order “Maintaining 

American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” The Executive Order launched the American AI Initiative, 

which is a concerted effort to promote national AI technology and innovation leadership. The Initiative 

implements a whole-of-government strategy in collaboration and engagement with the private sector, 

academia, civil society, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and like-minded 

international partners. It directs the Federal Government to pursue a number of key areas of emphasis, 

including investing in AI R&D, unleashing AI resources, removing barriers to AI innovation, training an 

AI-ready workforce, promoting an international environment supportive of American AI innovation, and 

leveraging AI for government services and missions.
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This document — American Artificial

Intelligence Initiative: Year One Annual Report

— reviews the strategic objectives of the 

Initiative, as well as the United States’ 

substantial progress on implementing the 

strategy over the first year. The chapters that 

follow describe the six main elements of the 

strategy, as well as Federal progress to date 

in these elements. Figure 1 summarizes 

several of the impactful outcomes from the 

Initiative thus far, including White House 

actions (left half of the figure) as well as 

actions by Federal agencies (right half of the 

figure). 

These actions are promoting and 

accelerating American leadership in AI as 

part of an overall national AI strategy of the 

United States, shaping the trajectory of AI 

development for the American people, 

improving the quality of our lives, and 

ensuring our economic and national security. 

2018 White House Summit on AI for 

American Industry 

In May 10, 2018, The White House hosted the 

Artificial Intelligence for American Industry 

summit, to discuss the promise of AI and the 

policies needed to realize that promise for the 

American people and maintain United States

leadership in the age of artificial intelligence. 

The summit brought together over 100 senior 

government officials, technical experts from 

top academic institutions, heads of industrial 

research labs, and American business leaders 

who are adopting AI technologies to benefit 

their customers, workers, and shareholders. At 

this summit, participants engaged in two sets 

of breakout sessions focused on cross-cutting 

issues such as AI R&D, workforce development, 

regulatory barriers to AI innovation, and 

sector-specific applications of AI.
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Figure 1. Timeline of United States Actions to Advance the American AI Initiative

Timeline of U.S. Government Actions to Advance the American AI Initiative

FY20 Administration R&D 

Budget Priorities Memo

Released July 2018

DoD AI Strategy

(Unclassified)

Released Feb 2019

FDA regulatory 

framework for AI 

medical devices

Proposed Apr 2019

USPTO RFI on 

patenting AI 

Released Aug 2019

White House Summit on 

AI for Industry

Held May 2018

White House Summit on 

AI in Government

Held Sep 2019

DoD AI Ethics 

Principles

Released Feb 2020

DOT AV 4.0 Guidance

Released Jan 2020
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Invest in AI Research and Development

The United States must drive technological breakthroughs in AI across the Federal Government, 

industry, and academia in order to promote scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and 

national security. (Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

The unique science and technology enterprise of the United States has positioned the Nation to 

pursue, realize, and become a global leader in AI. In this unique R&D ecosystem, academia, 

private industry, and government work together to create the world’s greatest innovation 

engine. Maintaining this robust AI R&D ecosystem requires Federal investments and policies that 

promote robust cooperation among academia, industry, and the Federal Government. Although

the Federal Government cannot — and should not — be the primary driver of United States 

innovation, the government does have a critical role in providing targeted R&D funding to 

support long-term fundamental research driving future technological breakthroughs, guiding 

the portfolio of R&D investments, using its resources to procure and adapt commercial AI 

capabilities for government missions, coordinating cross-agency AI investments, and leveraging 

Federal resources to accelerate AI R&D and adoption. Maintaining the thriving national AI R&D 

enterprise will help ensure that the United States continues to reap the benefits of these and 

future investments in AI and the emerging industries of the future.

Prioritize investments in AI R&D

To ensure the United States continues as a 

leader in AI innovation, the American AI 

Initiative requires Federal agencies to prioritize

AI in their R&D investments, as appropriate to 

each agency’s mission, consistent with law, and 

in accordance with the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) and the White House Office 

of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) R&D 

budget priorities memoranda. In annual R&D 

budget priorities memos, the Trump 

Administration has consistently called for AI to 

be prioritized in Federal agency budgets. Heads 

of Federal agencies are directed to budget 

amounts for AI R&D appropriate for this priority.

The Initiative also directs Federal agencies to 

annually report AI R&D investments through the 

Networking and Information Technology R&D 

(NITRD) Program. As required by law, NITRD 

annually prepares for Congress a Supplement 

to the President’s Budget Request that outlines 

unclassified information technology budgets at 

Federal agencies. The FY 2020 NITRD Budget 

Supplement,

14 for the first time in history, 

provided an agency-by-agency reporting of 

unclassified, non-defense Federal investments 

in AI R&D, totaling $973.5 million in FY 2020 

across a range of agencies, programs, and 

initiatives. This new AI R&D reporting process 

provides an important mechanism and 

baseline for consistently tracking America’s 

prioritization of AI R&D going forward.

Building upon this baseline and recognizing 

that increased investments are needed to 
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continue America’s lead in cutting-edge AI, 

President Trump’s FY 2021 budget includes a 

major increase in non-defense AI funding 

compared to the FY 2020 budget and is on a 

path to double government-wide non-defense 

spending on AI R&D by FY 2022.

15 The budget 

includes over $850 million for AI activities at the 

National Science Foundation (NSF), which 

represents a 70-plus percent increase over the 

FY 2020 budget. This increase will advance 

NSF’s ability to invest in both foundational and 

translational AI research, and it will enable NSF 

to create several additional National AI 

Research Institutes,

16 in collaboration with the 

Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security,

Transportation, and Veterans Affairs (VA). These 

institutes serve as focal points for multisector, 

multidisciplinary research and workforce 

efforts among academia, industry, Federal 

agencies, and nonprofits, helping to ensure 

that America remains the global AI leader.

The President’s FY 2021 budget also includes an 

increase of $54 million in core AI research at the 

Department of Energy’s (DOE)Office of Science, 

as well as an additional $50 million at the 

National Institutes of Health (NIH) for new 

research on tackling chronic diseases using AIrelated approaches.

Drive future technological 

breakthroughs in AI

The decades-long technological leadership of 

the United States in AI is a reflection of the 

Nation’s strong, long-term strategic emphasis 

on visionary, competitive, and high-payoff 

fundamental R&D programs that advance the 

frontiers of science and engineering. The 

Federal Government invests in a wide range of 

AI R&D that drives future technological 

breakthroughs. These investments cut across 

many executive departments and agencies and 

cover a broad range of topics relevant to the 

agencies’ missions, including core AI 

techniques and technologies; AI prototype 

systems; application and adaptation of AI 

techniques; architectural and systems support 

for AI; and cyberinfrastructure, datasets, and 

technical standards for AI. American R&D 

investments in AI are measured not just by the 

specific dollar total of the financial 

investments, but also — and perhaps more 

importantly — in the quality and impact of 

those investments. These investments are now 

paying off in everyday lives, in applications 

from healthcare to financial services, from 

weather forecasting to transportation, and 

more. 

Many areas of AI development have matured to 

the stage where industry and nonprofit 

organizations are now investing significantly in 

continued development of AI. Their

investments are leading to technology 

advancements that move AI from the research 

laboratory into commercial products and 

services. The Federal Government will leverage 

private sector investments in AI innovation 

whenever possible. However, many tough AI 

R&D challenges remain that industry is unlikely 

to solve. Some of these challenges lack nearterm market drivers, while others address 

agency-specific requirements or societal needs 

that are unlikely to lead to commercial profits. 

These continued research challenges require 

investment by the Federal Government. Just as 

today’s revolution in machine learning has its 

roots in Federally funded research projects 

going back decades, today’s investments will 

ensure the United States maintains its global 

leadership for decades to come.

As part of the Nation’s strategy to promote 

United States leadership in AI, it is the policy of 

the United States to maintain a current 

strategic plan for Federal R&D investments in AI 

and to track the progress and implementation
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Updating the National AI R&D Strategic Plan

In June 2019, The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s National Science and 

Technology Council released the National AI R&D Strategic Plan: 2019 Update,

17 which defines eight 

key strategies guiding Federal AI R&D investments. The process for creating this Plan began in August 

2018, when the Administration directed the Select Committee on AI to refresh the 2016 National AI 

R&D Strategic Plan to account for significant recent advancements in AI, and to ensure that Federal 

R&D investments remain at the forefront of science and technology. The Select Committee then 

issued a Request for Information (RFI) 18 to solicit input from the public on the current AI R&D 

Strategic Plan, to determine ways the strategy should be revised or improved. The responses to this 

RFI,

19 as well as an independent agency review, informed the 2019 update to the Plan, affirming the 

continued relevance of the original seven strategies of the 2016 Strategic Plan while also calling for 

greater attention to partnering with the private sector. Thus, a new, eighth strategy was added to 

place increased emphasis on effective partnerships between the Federal Government and 

academia, industry, other non-Federal entities, and international allies.

of that plan. Guiding the Nation’s AI R&D 

investments is the National AI R&D Strategic 

Plan: 2019 Update 20 (“Plan”), which identifies 

the critical areas of AI R&D that require Federal 

Government investment (see box above). The

Plan defines eight key areas of priority focus for 

the Federal agencies that invest in AI, including

continuing long-term investments in AIresearch;

developing effective methods for human-AI 

collaboration; understanding and addressing 

the ethical, legal, and societal implications of

AI; ensuring the safety and security of AI

systems; developing shared public datasets 

and environments for AI training and testing; 

measuring and evaluating AI technologies 

through standards and benchmarks; better 

understanding the national AI R&D workforce 

needs; and expanding public-private 

partnerships to accelerate advances in AI.

The Plan defines a coordinated effort across the 

Federal Government to help the United States 

realize the full potential of AI for the betterment 

of our Nation. However, the Plan does not 

define specific research agendas for individual 

Federal agencies. Instead, it is the policy of the 

United States for agencies to pursue priorities 

consistent with their missions, capabilities, 

authorities, and budgets, while coordinating 

the investments so that the overall portfolio of 

Federal research is consistent with this Plan. 

Each Federal agency has a unique mission and 

role in the Nation’s R&D ecosystem (see box on 

the next page). Together, these Federal 

agencies provide a whole-of-government 

approach to AI innovation across all segments 

of society. 

Support R&D addressing AI technical 

hurdles to trust

To garner trust and confidence, AI technologies 

should be transparent in how they work and 

provide reasonable guarantees on the safety, 

security, robustness, and resiliency of their 

operation. Many existing AI systems, however, 

lack these characteristics due to unsolved 

technical hurdles that require further R&D. 

Priority areas of AI R&D emphasize the 

development of explainability mechanisms 

that help human users understand reasons 

for AI outputs, along with methods to test, 

evaluate, verify, and validate their

performance. 
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Unique roles of Federal agencies in advancing AI research, development, 

and deployment

The United States benefits significantly from the broad spectrum of Federal agencies that invest in 

AI from their unique mission perspectives. 

• The National Science Foundation has long supported transformative fundamental research in 

AI, with investments made decades ago leading today’s deep learning systems in applications 

such as automated vehicles.

• The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has long been a pioneer in AI research and 

is now investing in the “third wave” of AI systems that have characteristics essential for military 

and safety-critical systems such as abilities to deal with contextual reasoning and explaining 

actions. 

• The Department of Defense established the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to scale AI and 

its impact across DoD, accelerate translating AI research into military capabilities, and 

strengthen our Nation’s defense. 

• The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity invests in AI for intelligence challenges, 

such as understanding imagery, as well as human language transcription and translation. 

• The National Institute for Standards and Technology is a leader in foundational research that 

informs the development of technical standards for reliable, robust, and trustworthy AI. 

• The Department of Energy is pioneering and sponsoring AI R&D to support its broad mission 

and is a world leader in the development of high-performance computing infrastructure that 

supports AI research. DOE established the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office to 

accelerate DOE’s AI capabilities, ensuring the national and economic security of the United States.

• The Department of Veterans Affairs in partnership with the Department of Energy is exploring 

the secure analysis of large digital health and genomic data to help advance healthcare for 

veterans and others in areas such as suicide prevention, cancer, and heart disease. 

• The National Institutes of Health explores effective ways to use AI in medicine, such as for 

diagnosing illnesses or personalizing treatments. 

• The Department of Transportation has developed voluntary guidance for safely integrating 

automated vehicles that leverage AI techniques into the Nation’s roadways. 

• In collaboration with others, the Departments of Labor, Commerce, and Health and Human 

Services are studying the impacts of automated vehicles on the workforce and understanding 

what new skills the workforce will need to thrive in the AI-based economy of the future. 

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is using AI to better understand 

satellite data for weather applications such as predicting the tracks of hurricanes.

Collectively, these and other Federal agencies provide critical expertise and leadership to ensure 

our Nation continues to benefit from advances in AI in a manner that is consistent with our values, 

policies, and priorities.

For data-intensive AI approaches, transparency 

further depends on a deeper understanding of 

the data used to train AI systems, including

veracity, provenance, and fitness for the 

application. Future research advances are being

explored, such as in the Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) AI Next 

Campaign21 to create more data-efficient 

approaches to AI that are much less dependent 

on large-scale data, thus potentially mitigating

the ethical and technical disadvantages of 

data-intensive AI. The National AI Research 
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Institutes program includes a focused theme on 

trustworthy AI. Other Federal agency programs 

are funding research to mitigate the 

cybersecurity risks of certain AI techniques that

are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. For 

example, DOE is partnering with academia and 

industry to develop resilient AI-based methods 

that automatically detect and respond to 

cyber-attacks against our Nation’s power grid 

and communications networks.

To address these technical hurdles, the 

National AI R&D Strategic Plan identifies 

numerous open AI R&D challenges that the 

Federal Government will prioritize to increase 

the trustworthiness of AI technologies and their 

application. These investments are critically 

important as one component of a broad strategy

to help ensure that future AI technologies are 

developed and used in a manner consistent

with our Nation’s core values.

Coordinate cross-agency AI investments

Given the broad spectrum of Federal R&D 

investments in AI, it is important for these 

investments to be coordinated to improve the 

overall effectiveness and productivity of these 

efforts. This coordination is the responsibility of 

the National Science and Technology Council 

(NSTC), a Cabinet-level council that is the 

principal means for the President to coordinate 

science and technology policies across the 

Executive Branch. The NSTC has established a 

framework to coordinate AI R&D across the 

Federal R&D agencies, consisting of three 

unique NSTC subgroups with representation 

from across the Federal R&D agencies. These 

groups include (1) senior leadership and 

strategic vision, (2) operational planning and 

tactical implementation, and (3) research and 

technical expertise, comprising:

• The Select Committee on AI 22 (“Select

Committee”). It was chartered by The White 

House in May of 2018 and consists of the 

heads of departments and agencies 

principally responsible for the government’s

AI R&D. The Select Committee advises the 

Administration on interagency AI R&D 

priorities; considers the creation of Federal 

partnerships with industry and academia; 

establishes structures to improve 

government planning and coordination of 

AI R&D; identifies opportunities to leverage 

Federal data and computational resources 

to support our national AI R&D ecosystem; 

and supports the growth of a technical, 

national AI workforce.

• The NSTC Subcommittee on Machine 

Learning and Artificial Intelligence (MLAI).

It consists of agency AI leaders and 

administrators and serves as the 

operational and implementation arm of the 

Select Committee, responsible for fulfilling 

tasking from the Select Committee; 

creating and maintaining the National AI 

R&D Strategic Plan; identifying and 

addressing important policy issues related 

to AI research, testing, standards, 

education, implementation, outreach, and 

related areas; and related activities.

• The AI R&D Interagency Working Group. It 

operates under the NSTC’s NITRD

Subcommittee and consists of research 

program managers and technical experts 

from across the Federal Government. It 

reports to the MLAI and NITRD 

Subcommittees; helps coordinate 

interagency AI R&D programmatic efforts; 

serves as the interagency AI R&D 

community of practice; and reports 

government-wide AI R&D spending through 

the NITRD Subcommittee’s annual 

Supplement to the President’s Budget. 

Given the strong AI expertise in industry, 

academia, and nonprofit organizations, Federal 

AI R&D coordination groups will benefit from 

strong engagement with these partners. It is 

also the policy of the United States to seek 
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expert advice from outside the Federal 

Government when appropriate, consistent with 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. 

App., as amended. This may include consulting 

the President’s Council of Advisors on 

Science and Technology 23 and other NSTC

subcommittees to obtain appropriate advice 

from the private sector. Public engagement is 

also important to the coordination of Federal AI 

activities, with general convenings, workshops, 

formal requests for information, and related 

opportunities providing important perspectives

to inform Federal R&D efforts.

Track progress on Federally funded AI R&D

To document the impactful progress the Nation 

has made in AI through Federal R&D 

investments, The White House issued the 

2016-2019 Progress Report: Advancing Artificial 

Intelligence R&D24 in November 2019. This

progress report highlights AI research first by 

R&D strategy, then by sector, with subsequent 

supporting details describing individual agency 

contributions that provide a whole-ofgovernment overview. The progress report 

highlights not only the broad themes of Federal 

R&D but also provides illustrative examples 

that highlight individual agency AI R&D 

breakthroughs that have advanced the state of 

the field. The diversity of programs and 

activities reflects the remarkable breadth and 

depth of transformative Federal investments 

into innovative AI concepts.

The United States benefits significantly from 

the broad spectrum of Federal agencies that 

invest in AI from their unique mission 

perspectives, consistent with the National AI 

R&D Strategic Plan. It is clear that Federal 

investments are generating impactful 

breakthroughs that are revolutionizing our 

society for the better. Collectively, the 

investments demonstrate how the Federal 

Government leverages and improves America’s 

AI capabilities through R&D, leading to further 

advances that increase prosperity, safety, 

security, and quality of life for the American 

people for decades to come.
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Unleash AI Resources

[Agencies must] enhance access to high-quality and fully traceable Federal data, models, and 

computing resources to increase the value of such resources for AI R&D, while maintaining safety,

security, privacy, and confidentiality protections consistent with applicable laws and policies. 

(Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

The Federal Government has significant resources in the form of data, models, and computing 

resources that would be of vital benefit to America’s AI research and development. Increased 

access to data and computing resources will broaden the community of experts, researchers, 

and industries participating at the cutting edge of AI R&D, thus increasing the competitiveness of 

experts across the country. To realize this potential, it is the policy of the United States to expand 

the access of experts to high-quality, valid, and fully traceable Federal data, models, and 

computing resources for Federally funded AI R&D.

Increase access to Federal datasets for 

AI R&D and testing

The American AI Initiative calls for Federal 

agencies to continually review their data and 

models as budgets allow, to identify 

opportunities to increase access and use of 

these data and models for AI R&D and testing.

Increasing access to data and models must be 

done in a manner that benefits the greater 

non-Federal AI research community, while also 

maintaining safety, security, privacy, and 

confidentiality protections. 

Enhancing this activity is the Cross-Agency 

Priority Goal of the President’s Management 

Agenda to leverage data as a strategic asset. 

The Federal Data Strategy 25 defines an

integrated and coordinated approach to fully 

leverage the value of Federal data for agency 

missions and the public good by guiding the 

Federal Government in practicing ethical 

governance, conscious design, and a learning 

culture. The Strategy’s 2020 Action Plan26 has 

also been developed, which identifies and 

prioritizes practice-related steps for the 

agencies for the year, along with targeted 

timeframes and responsible entities.

In accordance with the Federal Data Strategy, 

the American AI Initiative directs agencies to 

further improve their data and model inventory 

documentation to enable discovery and 

usability, prioritizing access and quality 

improvements to support AI research, 

development, and testing. 

Informing this process, The White House in July 

2019 issued an RFI to ask the public for comments

on the needs for additional access to, or 

improvements in the quality of, Federal data 

and models 27 that would improve the Nation’s 

AI R&D and testing efforts. 

A number of challenges must also be addressed 

in order to make data and models more 

available to the greater non-Federal research 

community, while ensuring appropriate 

protections remain in place. The American AI 
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Initiative directs agencies to identify the 

barriers to making data and models more 

available to the greater non-Federal research 

community. Identified barriers include format, 

quality, and scale considerations. Other 

barriers include challenges in data and model 

discoverability, accessibility, and usability, as 

well as barriers in how models are trained and 

validated. Additionally, governance issues that 

include provenance, access constraints, privacy, 

safety, security, and intellectual property must 

be carefully considered and managed.

Many efforts are underway now across the 

Federal agencies to take the information 

gathered from the RFI, in the context of the 

identified barriers and additional

considerations, and deliver on making more 

Federal data more available for AI R&D and 

testing, as appropriate. For example, NSF and 

the Department of Transportation’s Federal 

Highway Administration (DOT/FHWA) are 

collaborating on research on privacy 

techniques that would enable the Strategic 

Highway Research Project dataset 28 to be

accessible remotely.

Prioritize allocation of high-performance

computing resources for AI

While algorithms and data play strong roles in 

the performance of AI systems, equally 

important is the computing infrastructure upon 

which AI systems run. Advances in AI will 

continue to be dependent on hardware 

optimized by AI algorithms, including novel 

designs for neuromorphic computing, 

hardware accelerators for machine learning, 

embedded systems, and parallel architecture 

research motivated by AI processing 

requirements and in light of the limitations of 

Moore’s Law. 

For example, NSF and DARPA are partnering on 

the Real-Time Machine Learning (RTML) 

program to explore high-performance, energyefficient hardware and machine-learning 

architectures that can learn from a continuous 

stream of new data in real time. Through RTML, 

NSF and DARPA are enabling teaming between 

researchers they support. 

The United States is a world leader in the 

development of high-performance computing 

infrastructure that supports AI research, and 

the Administration is committed to maintaining 

this leadership through the recently updated 

National Strategic Computing Initiative.

29 As 

part of the American AI Initiative, Federal 

agencies are prioritizing the allocation of highperformance computing resources for AIrelated applications through discretionary 

allocation of resources and resource reserves to 

prioritize AI research, to the extent appropriate 

and consistent with law. For example, DOE 

made available the world’s largest 

supercomputers in a partnership with the 

National Cancer Institutes of the NIH, to build 

novel AI solutions for the Nation’s pressing 

cancer challenges.

Enable better use of cloud computing to 

advance Federally funded AI R&D

Agencies are also identifying ways in which 

cloud computing resources can be better used 

to advance Federally funded AI R&D. Cloud 

platforms provide robust, agile, reliable, and 

scalable computing capabilities that can help 

accelerate advances in AI. Additionally, 

increased access to powerful cloud computing 

resources can broaden the extent of AI 

researchers who are able to participate in the 

R&D needed for cutting-edge technological 

advances. Agencies are exploring technical 

and administrative challenges that are limiting 

cloud adoption, along with actions needed to
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remove any unnecessary barriers to AI 

innovation. 

For example, NSF has funded an entity 30 to 

enhance access for the academic computer 

science research and education community to 

cloud computing providers. Similarly, NIH is 

experimenting with using cloud environments 

to streamline NIH data use by partnering 

with commercial providers through its Science 

and Technology Research Infrastructure for

Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability 

(STRIDES) Initiative.

31

By democratizing access to powerful cloud 

computing resources, the United States will 

expand the ability of academia and industry to 

explore innovative ideas for advancing AI. In 

turn, these advancements will lead to 

transformative technologies that improve lives, 

grow innovative industries, empower workers, 

and increase national security. 
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Remove Barriers to AI Innovation

[The Federal Government must] reduce barriers to the use of AI technologies to promote their 

innovative application while protecting American technology, economic and national security, 

civil liberties, privacy, and values. (Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

AI is still in its infancy. Although we are seeing numerous actual and potential benefits and 

challenges of AI, the true extent of AI’s impact on society is still unknown. A responsible approach 

to AI removes barriers to the use of AI technologies in order to promote their innovative 

application while protecting economic and national security, civil liberties, privacy, and 

American values. The Federal Government plays an important role to ensure that regulations 

guiding the development and use of AI are supportive of innovation and not overly burdensome. 

The Federal Government also contributes to industry-driven technical standards that support 

the development and use of AI. By addressing regulatory and standards challenges for AI 

innovation, the government fosters a business environment that allows entrepreneurs to create 

new American industries and enables our Nation’s innovation ecosystem to thrive.

Foster trust in applications of AI

Due to the complexity of many AI technologies, 

they are not always easily understood by the 

general public. Since AI technologies are so 

broadly applicable across society, some 

people fear that they will be used — openly or 

opaquely — in ways that conflict with our 

Nation’s core values and civil liberties. Not 

using AI technologies because of perceived or 

potential harms, however, could be just as 

problematic, depriving individuals — or the 

Nation — of the significant benefits that AI 

technologies could bring.

Fully realizing the potential of AI, therefore, 

requires public trust and confidence in these 

technologies. Gaining trust and confidence in 

the use of AI technologies requires a broad 

range of actions, including accelerating AI R&D 

to address technical hurdles, creating and 

implementing effective guidance for oversight 

of these technologies, evaluating relevance of 

existing legal and regulatory approaches 

overseeing the use of AI and addressing gaps 

when needed, educating AI developer and user 

communities on potential limitations and 

harms in the use of AI technologies, and setting 

expectations for the appropriate development 

and use of AI by technical professionals.

Provide regulatory guidance for AI

Innovative technologies like AI can create 

significant new ways of solving problems that 

existing regulations may not have considered. 

Many existing laws and regulations apply 

whether or not AI is used, such as the 

expectation that employers will not 

discriminate when hiring workers, or that 

personally identifiable information will remain 

confidential. However, other existing laws and 

regulations could introduce unnecessary and 

unintended barriers to novel designs, such as a 

past regulation that may have presumed cars to

always have human drivers.
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Examples of Federal actions that are removing barriers to AI innovation 

Department of Transportation: DOT is taking steps to develop voluntary guidance for how best to 

integrate automated vehicles into our Nation’s transportation systems. In January 2020, DOT and 

OSTP released Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 

4.0,

32 which details 10 United States Government principles to protect users and communities, to 

promote efficient markets, and to facilitate coordinated efforts to ensure a standardized Federal 

approach. This new document builds on DOT’s 2018 AV 3.0 guidance 33 and 2017 ADS 2.0 guidance,

34

which focused on innovation for surface transportation modes and safe testing and integration of 

automated vehicles. 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): In October 2017, President Trump signed a Presidential 

Memorandum35 that launched the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program, 

permitting States and localities to conduct innovative commercial and public drone operations 

previously prohibited under FAA regulations. This program is being used to accelerate the safe 

integration of UAS36 into the national airspace and to realize the benefits of unmanned technology 

in our economy.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA): In April 2018, FDA approved the first-ever AI-based device to 

detect diabetic retinopathy,37 the leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans. This 

device can be used by primary care physicians for early detection of this disease to improve the 

healthcare screening of people with diabetes by doctors who are not normally involved in eye care.

Food and Drug Administration: In April 2019, FDA proposed a regulatory framework for AI-based 

software as a medical device.

38 FDA is considering a total product lifecycle-based regulatory 

framework for these technologies that would allow for modifications to be made from real-world 

learning and adaptation while still ensuring that the safety and effectiveness of the software as a 

medical device is maintained. This was followed in September 2019 with draft guidance for clinical

decision support software.

39

The advancement of AI is sufficiently far along 

that we are now seeing new ways that AI is 

being used across society. While it is not 

prudent for regulatory agencies to regulate 

against imagined harms, it is appropriate for 

these agencies to evaluate their current 

regulatory approaches to determine the updates

needed to account for innovative AI capabilities.

Regulatory progress for AI innovation is already

being made with actions by DOT, FAA, and FDA 

(see box above). However, further overarching 

guidance is needed to inform the development 

of regulatory and nonregulatory approaches by 

individual agencies regarding technologies and 

industrial sectors that are either empowered or 

enabled by AI. In particular, guidance is needed 

to address challenges specific to AI, not simply 

reformulations of existing broader efforts to 

consider challenges of data, privacy, 

cybersecurity, competition, digital economy, or 

related topics.

Addressing this issue, as directed by the 

American AI Initiative, in January 2020, The 

White House published a request for public 

comment on proposed first-of-their-kind AI 

regulatory principles 40 on regulatory and 

nonregulatory policies to govern the 

development and use of AI technologies in the 

private sector. When finalized, this guidance will

ensure that agencies consider ways to reduce 
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barriers to the development and adoption of AI 

before proposing any regulation of technologies

and industrial sectors that are empowered or 

enabled by AI. The guidance also calls on 

regulatory agencies to review their authorities 

relevant to the application of AI and to develop 

plans to achieve consistency with the guidance.

The proposed United States AI regulatory 

principles are underpinned by three goals 

designed to drive AI innovation:

• Ensure Public Engagement: The AI 

regulatory principles call for Federal 

agencies to increase public participation in 

the policymaking process, building public 

trust and confidence in AI technologies. 

Regulators must base technical and policy 

decisions on scientific evidence and 

feedback from the American public, 

industry leaders, the academic community, 

nonprofits, and civil society. 

• Limit Regulatory Overreach: Regulators 

must carefully assess risk and the costs and 

benefits before considering regulations 

related to the development and deployment

of AI applications, with a focus on 

establishing flexible, performance-based 

frameworks rather than one-size-fits-all 

regulation. The principles also direct Federal

agencies to reduce duplicative efforts and 

ensure consistency government-wide.

• Promote Trustworthy AI: When evaluating 

regulatory and nonregulatory approaches 

to AI, Federal agencies must consider 

fairness, nondiscrimination, disclosure, 

transparency, safety, and security. In 

recognizing American values and the 

importance of scientific integrity and 

information quality, the principles address 

challenging technical questions and 

societal concerns to support the 

development of innovative, reliable, robust, 

and trustworthy AI systems.

The principles detail the United States

approach to AI regulation for innovators and 

entrepreneurs. The principles seek to reduce

regulatory uncertainty that could hinder 

private sector innovation and development of AI 

technologies. The principles also convey the 

importance of avoiding heavy-handed 

innovation-killing models. The best way to 

counter authoritarian uses of AI is to make sure 

America and our international partners remain 

the global hubs of innovation, shaping the 

evolution of technology in a manner consistent 

with our common values. These AI regulatory 

principles put our Nation on a path towards 

continued AI leadership, innovation, and 

discovery.

Develop relevant technical standards

The United States will lead in the development 

of appropriate technical standards and related 

tools in support of the safe development, 

testing, and deployment of AI technologies. 

Such standards promote the development of 

reliable, robust, trustworthy, secure, portable, 

and interoperable AI systems. Appropriate 

technical standards will foster the creation of 

new AI-related industries and the adoption of AI 

by today’s industries. Standards can provide 

developers with clear guidelines for the design 

of AI systems to ensure that they can be easily 

integrated with other technologies, utilize best 

practices for cybersecurity and safety, and 

adhere to a variety of technical specifications 

that maximize their utility. They can also serve 

as a mechanism for evaluating and comparing 

AI systems. The development of standards 

should be market-driven, led by the private 

sector based on a voluntary, transparent, and 

consensus-driven approach.

The Department of Commerce, through NIST, 

leads Federal engagement in the development 

of technical standards and related tools. As 
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directed by the American AI Initiative, in August 

2019, NIST released a Plan for Federal 

Engagement in Developing Technical Standards 

and Related Tools.

41 The goal is to ensure that 

technical standards reflect Federal priorities for 

innovation, public trust, and public confidence 

in systems that use AI technologies, and that 

international standards are developed to 

promote and protect those priorities.

United States global leadership in AI depends 

upon the Federal Government playing an active 

and purpose-driven role in AI standards 

development. In this role, and according to 

their missions, agencies should support and 

conduct AI standards R&D, actively engage in AI 

standards development, procure and deploy

standards-based products and services, and 

develop and implement supportive policies, 

including regulatory policies where needed.

The government’s meaningful engagement in 

standards development is necessary — but not 

sufficient — for the Nation to maintain its 

leadership in this competitive realm. Active 

involvement and leadership by the private 

sector, as well as academia, is required. 

Prepared with extensive public and private 

sector input, NIST’s plan provides guidance for 

bolstering the engagement of Federal agencies 

in AI technical standards to promote continued 

United States leadership in AI. It focuses on the

Federal Government’s role in advancing AI 

standards and priorities for research that 

supports development of technically sound 

and fit-for-purpose standards. 
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Train an AI-Ready Workforce

The United States must train current and future generations of American workers with the skills 

to develop and apply AI technologies to prepare them for today's economy and jobs of the future. 

(Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

AI and related technologies are creating entirely new career paths and increasing the demands

for new and advanced technical skills across a wide range of industries. AI also holds the promise 

of improving worker safety, increasing productivity, and creating new industry sectors not yet 

imagined. At the same time, these technologies are changing the nature of work and raising 

some concerns that many existing occupations will change significantly or become obsolete. The 

United States is empowering current and future generations of American workers with the skills 

needed to adapt to — and thrive in — this new age of AI. American workers are being provided 

opportunities to develop and apply AI technologies so they can compete in the 21st century 

economy, embrace new AI technologies, and succeed in the jobs of the future.

Align education to future workforce 

needs 

The AI-ready workforce includes people with a 

broad spectrum of capabilities, from those who 

are novices in technology but capable of using 

AI-based tools, to those experts who create the 

next innovations at the cutting edge of AI. 

Preparing this AI-ready workforce requires an 

enhanced focus on the STEM education talent

pipeline, as well as technical apprenticeships, 

reskilling, and lifelong learning programs to 

better match Americans’ skills with the needs of 

industry. Significant progress is being made by 

the Federal Government toward these 

objectives (see box on the next page). All of 

these efforts require concerted partnerships 

among academia, industry, and Federal, state, 

and local governments.

The urgency of providing opportunities for 

Americans to engage in the emerging industries 

of the future is increasing and is becoming a 

national and economic security issue. As noted 

in the 2017 National Security Strategy,

42 a

priority action is to protect and increase critical 

skills in the United States. There is a growing 

shortage of AItechnical talent across academia, 

industry, and government, spanning all levels 

of AI expertise.

The United States will expand opportunities for 

all Americans to gain the skills needed to 

participate in an AI-ready workforce, including 

those from diverse backgrounds who are 

historically underrepresented in STEM fields. 

General STEM educational and training 

opportunities relevant for AI are being addressed

in other Federal efforts, including the 2018 FiveYear Strategy for STEM Education,

43 Task Force 

for Apprenticeship Expansion,

44 and President’s 

National Council for the American Worker.

45

As directed by the American AI Initiative, the 

Select Committee on AI is providing expertise to 

the National Council for the American Worker

on education and workforce recommendations 

for developing an AI-ready workforce, which
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Providing American workers with skills for the 21st century economy 

Prioritizing STEM Education: In September 2017, President Trump signed a Presidential 

Memorandum prioritizing high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

education, with a particular focus on computer science education, and committing $200 million in 

grant funds from the Department of Education that were matched by private industry commitments 

of $300 million. NSF’s CSforAll 46 program is also providing opportunities for students to participate 

in computer science and computational thinking education in their schools at the preK-12 levels.

STEM Strategic Plan: In December 2018, The White House released a 5-year strategic plan —

Charting a Course for Success: America’s Strategy for STEM Education47— to strengthen and better 

coordinate STEM education programs across the Federal Government. The goals of this plan are to 

help ensure that all Americans have access to quality STEM education and to safeguard America’s 

place as the global leader in STEM innovation and employment. A key focus of this plan is on 

enhancing access to curricula in computer science and computational thinking.

Apprenticeships: In June 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order establishing industryrecognized apprenticeships and creating a Cabinet-level Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion.

48

National Council for the American Worker: In July 2018, President Trump signed an Executive 

Order establishing the President’s National Council for the American Worker 49 to ensure that 

students and workers have access to innovative education and job training opportunities. Through 

this action, President Trump charged companies and trade groups across the country to sign the 

Pledge to America’s Workers,

50 committing to expand education, training, and reskilling 

opportunities for American workers. As of February 2020, over 400 companies have pledged to 

create more than fourteen million such opportunities.

will be included as part of the National Council 

for the American Worker’s National Workforce 

Strategy.

Prioritize AI within existing Federal 

fellowship and service programs 

In addition to these efforts, the American AI 

Initiative specifies that heads of agencies will, 

to the extent consistent with law, consider AI as 

a priority area within existing Federal fellowship

and service programs. Eligible programs for 

prioritization will give preference to American 

citizens to the extent permitted by law and will 

include high school, undergraduate, and 

graduate fellowships; alternative education 

and training programs; programs to recognize 

and fund early-career faculty AI researchers;

scholarship-for-service programs; direct 

commissioning programs of the Armed Forces; 

and programs that support the development of 

instructional programs and curricula that 

encourage the integration of AI technologies 

into courses in order to facilitate personalized 

and adaptive learning experiences for formal 

and informal education and training.

Many existing Federal agency programs are 

now funding students and early-career faculty 

who are focused on AI education, training, 

and/or research (see box on the next page).

Leverage research to improve 

educational quality and opportunity

Interestingly, AI itself can help improve 

educational quality and opportunity, such as 

through virtual AI-based tutors that personalize

educational experiences and customize 

learning plans to address the unique needs of 

each individual. Such tools are complementary 

to the education provided by human teachers,
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with appropriate personalized training to 

augment and enhance outcomes of the learner. 

While some of these efforts are still in the 

research and development stage, other tools 

are being used in practical applications. More 

broadly, research that provides a deeper 

understanding of the impacts of AI on the future 

of work — such as NSF’s program The Future of 

Work at the Human-Technology Frontier 51 — is 

critically important, along with strategies that 

inform future educational and training 

programs to prepare workers for the industries 

of the future. These efforts will help us better 

understand the human-technology partnership 

and the emerging sociotechnological landscape, 

create new technologies to augment human 

performance, and foster lifelong and pervasive 

learning with technology.

Agency fellowship and service training programs funding AI training

Many existing fellowship and scholarship programs at the Federal agencies are supporting 

students and early career researchers in AI, including:

DARPA: Young Faculty Award

DoD: Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation Scholarship for Service Program; 

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program; DoD Historically Black 

Colleges/Universities and Minority-serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) Research and Education 

Program; United States Air Force Rome Laboratory Summer Faculty Fellowship Program; 

Autonomy Technology Research Center and Center for Surveillance Research Internship Program

DOE: Artificial Intelligence Summer Institute (AISI); Next Generation STEM Internship Program 

(NEXTGENS); Community College Internships (CCI); Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship 

(SULI); Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program (SCGSR); Visiting Faculty Program 

(VFP); Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program (AEF); Early Career Research 

Program; Computational Science Graduate Fellowship

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration): NASA Fellowship Activity

NIH: Individual (F32) and institutional (T32) training programs; internship opportunities to bring 

AI experts into NIH to work alongside Federal staff; other internship programs for industry experts, 

researchers, and students.

NOAA: Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program; Educational Partnership Program with Minority 

Serving Institutions; Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship; John A. Knauss Marine Policy 

Fellowship Program; National Marine Fisheries Service – Sea Grant Joint Fellowship Program in 

Population and Ecosystem Dynamics and Marine Resource Economics

NSF: Faculty Early Career Program (CAREER); Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites;

Training-based Workforce Development for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (CI-Training); SBE 

PostdoctoralResearch Fellowships (SPRF); Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (MPS); Postdoctoral 

Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB); Graduate Research Fellowships Program; Advanced 

Technological Education Program (ATE); Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL); CyberCorps: 

Scholarship for Service; Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12); EHR Core Research (ECR); Historically 

Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP); Improving Undergraduate

STEM Education (IUSE); NSF Research Traineeship (NRT); Computer Science for All (CSforAll)

USDA/NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture): Agriculture and Food Research Initiative 

(AFRI) Predoctoral Fellowships; AFRI Postdoctoral Fellowships; Food and Agricultural Sciences 

National Needs Graduate Fellowships; Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates.
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Promote an International Environment

Supportive of American AI Innovation

The United States must promote an international environment that supports American AI 

research and innovation and opens markets for American AI industries.

(Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

The United States further advances its leadership in AI through strategic engagement and 

international vehicles that promote national economic strength and security and quality of life. 

The United States values collaborations with global allies on applications of AI, as well as 

strategies for addressing opportunities and challenges of common interest. International 

partners provide important perspectives and expertise that can be mutually beneficial. 

International engagements should foster and promote trust and adoption, advance economic 

growth, and promote development and innovation in the AI field. 

Engage internationally to promote 

trustworthy AI innovation

The United States is committed to promoting 

an international environment that supports AI 

R&D, opens markets for American AI industries, 

and promotes the development of AI 

technology in a manner consistent with our 

Nation’s values and interests. In particular, the 

United States supports international AI 

collaborations and partnerships that are 

grounded in evidence-based approaches, 

analytical research, and multistakeholder 

engagements that bring different perspectives 

together.

The United States has long been a champion 

and defender of the core values of freedom, 

guarantees of human rights, individual dignity, 

the rule of law, rights to privacy, respect for 

intellectual property, and opportunities for all 

to pursue their dreams. The AI technologies the 

Nation develops and uses must reflect these 

fundamental values and be devoted to helping 

people. This is especially important today, 

given the growing use of AI by authoritarian 

governments to infringe on the rights of its 

citizens. The Federal Government will continue 

to work with international partners to take 

actions that foster public trust and confidence 

in AI technologies while ensuring the protection 

of civil liberties, privacy, and American values in 

their application. 

Recognizing that many international 

organizations are pursuing overlapping 

initiatives in AI, the United States advocates 

for strategic engagement with like-minded 

international organizations that have 

established infrastructure, resources, and 

actionable plans for advancing AI policy 

activities.

The United States engages actively in many 

international venues on topics of relevance to 

AI, through fora that include G7 Innovation and 
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Technology Ministerials, G20 Digital Economy

Ministerials, NATO, the European Union, 

meetings of the OECD, and other multilateral 

discussions. These meetings are important 

opportunities to identify common values and 

approaches for increasing trust in and 

adoption of AI. For example, at the 2018 G7 

Innovation and Technology Ministerial, the 

United States and other G7 nations signed a 

joint statement on AI 52 to advance these

shared goals (see box below). 

The United States also values bilateral 

agreements with allies on science and 

technology matters of mutual agreement. For 

example, in 2017 the United States signed the 

first-ever science and technology cooperative

agreement between the United States and the

United Kingdom, and in 2018 the United States 

and France issued a Joint Statement on science 

and technology cooperation. As appropriate 

and mutually beneficial, the United States will 

continue to seek out bilateral partnerships to 

accelerate joint activities in AI.

Federal officials also frequently participate in 

international meetings, conferences, symposia, 

and workshops to engage with multiple 

stakeholders on the stewardship of trustworthy 

AI. Through these and other venues, the United 

States collaborates with international partners 

to emphasize the importance of AI innovation 

for economic growth and global security, as 

well as taking actions for promoting trust in and 

adoption of AI technologies to provide new 

opportunities and address key challenges.

Promote and implement international 

principles on AI stewardship

In May 2019, the United States joined with other 

OECD countries to advance common AI principles

as outlined in the OECD Recommendation 

on AI 53 (see box on the next page). This 

recommendation formalizes principles for the 

innovative and trustworthy development and 

application of AI, marking the first time that the 

United States and like-minded democracies 

have committed to common AI principles. 

2018 G7 Innovation and Technology Ministerial Joint Statement on AI —

Increasing Trust in and Adoption of AI 

In 2018, United States Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios led the United States delegation to 

the G7 Innovation and Technology Ministerial, which resulted in a Statement on Artificial 

Intelligence that affirmed, in part, that:

...increasing trust in and adoption of AI are necessary ingredients for economic growth and 

the fuel for future innovations that can benefit society as a whole. G7 members recognize that 

trust and adoption can be encouraged through a robust multistakeholder approach involving: 

education initiatives and public awareness of the benefits of AI technologies; increasing the 

participation of women in the workforce; promoting safe and reliable AI applications in the 

marketplace; giving early considerations to impacts on citizens, including through respecting 

privacy as a fundamental value and respecting applicable frameworks for privacy and data 

protection; mechanisms to ensure the accountability of AI systems; enabling industry-led 

processes to promote safety and vigilance in design and implementation of AI systems; efforts 

to prevent the misuse of AI applications that could cause harm; initiatives, notably those led by 

industry, that promote guidance on human intervention in AI decision-making processes, 

among others.
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These principles reflect many of the 

priorities championed by the American AI

Initiative, including prioritizing long-term 

R&D, removing barriers to innovation and 

discovery, building the AI workforce, and 

fostering public trust. In June 2019, the G20 

also adopted these principles, expanding 

their impact around the world. 

In ongoing work with the OECD, the United 

States is supporting efforts to continue 

implementing the OECD AI Principles

through the OECD AI Policy Observatory. 

This AI Policy Observatory aims to help 

countries encourage, nurture, and monitor 

the responsible development of trustworthy 

AI systems for the benefit of society by 

combining resources from across the OECD 

with those of multistakeholder partners 

to facilitate dialogue and provide

multidisciplinary, evidence-based policy

analysis on AI. 

OECD Recommendations on AI —

AI Principles

In May 2019, the United States joined with more 

than 40 other countries to endorse the OECD 

AI Principles.

54 In brief, these principles 

encompass the following:

1. Principles for responsible stewardship of 

trustworthy AI

1.1.Inclusive growth, sustainable 

development, and well-being

1.2. Human-centered values and fairness

1.3. Transparency and explainability

1.4. Robustness, security, and safety 

1.5. Accountability

2. National policies and international 

cooperation for trustworthy AI 

2.1.Investing in AI research and 

development 

2.2. Fostering a digital ecosystem for AI

2.3.Providing an enabling policy 

environment for AI

2.4.Building human capacity and 

preparing for labor transition 

2.5. International cooperation
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Embrace Trustworthy AI for

Government Services and Missions

Artificial Intelligence will affect the missions of nearly all executive departments and agencies.

(Executive Order 13859, February 11, 2019)

The Federal Government is committed to taking full advantage of AI, when appropriate, in a 

manner that is consistent with the Constitution and our Nation’s values and protective of civil 

liberties and privacy. The Federal Government will take action to use AI to improve government 

services and fulfill their missions for the American people. 

Leverage private sector expertise to 

improve government services using AI

In recent years, the private sector has 

demonstrated that AI can be used to improve 

the quality of services, assist in the creation of 

new products, and increase efficiency. 

Likewise, AI provides opportunities to help the 

Federal Government be more responsive, 

effective, and efficient for the American people.

Some Federal agencies are already leading the 

way by using AI to process grant applications, 

check Federal solicitations for regulatory 

compliance, improve nautical charts, process 

satellite imagery, perform predictive 

maintenance, and much more. Still, there is 

significant room for increased use of AI. A 

number of interrelated challenges must be 

addressed — some technical, some requiring 

process changes, and some involving talent 

and workforce issues. 

To leverage the expertise of academia, 

industry, nonprofits, and civil society in 

addressing this challenge, The White House 

held a Summit on AI in Government in 

September 2019 (see box). Through discussions 

at this summit, the Federal Government sought 

near-term solutions for improving government 

services using AI. Some applications of AI are 

2019 White House Summit on 

Artificial Intelligence in 

Government 

In September 2019, The White House 

hosted The Summit on Artificial 

Intelligence in Government. The Summit 

brought together over 175 leaders and 

experts from government, industry, and 

academia to spark ideas for how the 

Federal Government can adopt AI to 

achieve its mission and improve services to 

the American people. At the Summit, 

attendees discussed identifying best 

practices in the use of AI, opportunities to 

foster collaborative partnerships, and ways 

to develop a Federal AI workforce. The 

Summit highlighted innovative efforts at 

Federal agencies that have already 

adopted AI and looked ahead to future 

transformative AI applications that will 

make government more effective, efficient, 

and responsive.
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easier and more useful for the government to

implement in the near term, based on existing 

experience. Attention must be paid to how best 

to manage process changes that arise from the 

new capabilities that AI provides. Experience 

from the private sector is informing the 

development of appropriate strategies for 

building organizational trust in the adoption of 

AI within the Federal Government.

Accelerate government adoption 

through interagency collaboration 

Collaboration across the Federal Government 

can also be fostered through a Center of 

Excellence (COE) model, which can serve as an 

important mechanism for agencies to share AI 

expertise and best practices. The General 

Services Administration (GSA) has launched an

AI COE55 to enable agencies to develop AI 

solutions by incorporating machine learning, 

computer vision, natural language processing, 

intelligent process design, and robotic process 

automation into their operations. The AI COE is 

providing strategic tools and infrastructure 

support to help agencies rapidly discover use 

cases, identify applicable artificial intelligence 

methods, and deploy scalable solutions.

Federal agencies have active efforts underway 

to examine their own processes, procedures, 

and activities to identify ways that AI can be 

used to better achieve the missions of agencies 

and improve their provision of services to the 

American people. For example, GSA is piloting 

an AI-based tool for evaluating regulatory 

compliance in contracting programs.

Historically, regulatory compliance has been a 

time-consuming and challenging task because 

of the variability between contracting practices 

across agencies. An AI-based tool could 

automatically determine whether an agency’s 

contract solicitation complies with Federal 

regulations.

In other efforts, DoD established the Joint 

Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) 56 to serve as 

the focal point for the execution of the DoD AI 

Strategy and as an AI Center of Excellence. The 

JAIC aims to accelerate DoD’s adoption of AI 

through repeatability at scale, creating 

leveraged products, policies, people, 

platforms, and processes. Its products focus on 

a set of challenging use cases that can benefit 

from AI, including Joint WarfightingOperations; 

Warfighter Health; Predictive Maintenance; 

Intelligent Business Automation; Humanitarian 

Assistance and Disaster Relief; and Cyber 

Sensemaking. The intent is both to deliver new 

AI-enabled capabilities to DoD end users and to 

build a common foundation of shared data, 

reusable tools, frameworks, libraries, and 

standards that are essential for scaling the 

impact of AI across DoD. These efforts can also 

be leveraged across the non-defense Federal 

agencies.

DOE established the Artificial Intelligence 

and Technology Office (AITO) 57 to serve as a 

nexus for coordinating AI activities and 

accelerating intradepartmental and

interagency collaborations. AITO is working on 

projects with the VA, Health and Human 

Services, and the JAIC to create AI solutions 

that address our Nation’s health priorities and 

will enable humanitarian assistance and 

disaster response for wildfires and floods.

Advance Federal agency progress

As illustrated in Figure 1, Federal agencies have 

also been very active over the past year in 

implementing their own strategies and actions 

to advance their missions using AI. Several 

agencies have released their own AI and data 

science strategies, including the NIH Strategic 

Plan for Data Science,

58 the DoD AI Strategy,59

and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) AI Strategy.

60 Agencies 
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are also setting up centers and offices focused 

on coordinating and advancing AI activities 

across their agency, such as DoD’s JAIC, DOE’s 

AITO, and the VA’s National AI Institute.

61 The 

United States Patent and Trademark Office is 

engaging with the innovation community and 

experts in AI to consider potential guidance on 

patenting AI inventions, issuing a request for 

comments 62 to gather information from 

interested stakeholders. DOT has released a 

series of guidance reports for how best to 

integrate automated vehicles63 into our 

transportation system. These and related efforts

contribute significantly to the Nation’s

leadership in AI and to accelerating the use of AI 

by the agencies for the benefit of the Nation.

Develop an AI-ready Federal workforce 

Increasing the use of AI in government requires 

a workforce skilled in the design, development, 

and use of AI systems. Federal agencies are 

exploring appropriate approaches for hiring, 

training, reskilling, and retaining Federal 

workers with the new skills needed to innovate 

through the application of AI technologies. 

Strategic partnerships among government, 

industry, and academia can accelerate the 

development of effective approaches to 

prepare the Federal workforce for the design, 

development, and use of AI.

Build trust in the use of AI in government 

As the Federal Government increases its use of 

AI to improve the delivery of services to the 

American people, it is of paramount 

importance that this be done in a way that 

builds citizen trust. The Federal Government 

will develop a governance approach to its own 

design, development, and use of AI. 

Importantly, the Federal use of AI must always 

be done in a manner consistent with the 

Constitution and all applicable laws and 

government policies. Such development and 

use must show due respect for our Nation’s 

values, including privacy, civil rights, and civil 

liberties. 
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Endnotes

Executive Summary

1 https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/accelerating-americas-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence/

2 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/02/14/2019-02544/maintaining-american-leadership-inartificial-intelligence

3 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-trumps-fy-2021-budget-commits-doubleinvestments-key-industries-future/

4 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/National-AI-Research-and-DevelopmentStrategic-Plan-2019-Update-June-2019.pdf 5 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AI-Research-and-Development-Progress-Report2016-2019.pdf

6 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FY2020-NITRD-AI-RD-Budget-September-2019.pdf

7 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/10/2019-14618/identifying-priority-access-or-qualityimprovements-for-federal-data-and-models-for-artificial

8 https://strategy.data.gov/

9 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Draft-OMB-Memo-on-Regulation-of-AI-1-7-19.pdf

10 https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2019/08/10/ai_standards_fedengagement_plan_9aug2019.pdf

11 https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=299329&org=NSF&from=news

12 http://www.oecd.org/going-digital/ai/principles/

13 https://coe.gsa.gov/coe/artificial-intelligence.html

Invest in AI Research and Development

14 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FY2020-NITRD-AI-RD-Budget-September-2019.pdf

15 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ap_17_research_fy21.pdf, p. 233.

16 https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505686

17 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/National-AI-Research-and-DevelopmentStrategic-Plan-2019-Update-June-2019.pdf

18 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/09/26/2018-20914/request-for-information-on-update-tothe-2016-national-artificial-intelligence-research-and

19 https://www.nitrd.gov/nitrdgroups/index.php?title=AI-RFI-Responses-2018

20 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/National-AI-Research-and-DevelopmentStrategic-Plan-2019-Update-June-2019.pdf

21 https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/ai-next-campaign

22 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Summary-Report-of-White-House-AISummit.pdf?latest#page=13

23 https://science.osti.gov/About/PCAST

24 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AI-Research-and-Development-Progress-Report2016-2019.pdf

Unleash AI Resources

25 https://strategy.data.gov/

26 https://strategy.data.gov/action-plan/

27 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/10/2019-14618/identifying-priority-access-or-qualityimprovements-for-federal-data-and-models-for-artificial

28 https://cms7.fhwa.dot.gov/research/data-sets/safety-training-analysis-center/data

29 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/National-Strategic-Computing-Initiative-Update-2019.pdf

30 https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1925001

31 https://datascience.nih.gov/strides
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Remove Barriers to AI Innovation

32 https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/policy-initiatives/automatedvehicles/360956/ensuringamericanleadershipav4.pdf

33 https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/policy-initiatives/automatedvehicles/320711/preparing-future-transportation-automated-vehicle-30.pdf

34 https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf

35 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-secretary-transportation/

36 https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/

37 https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-permits-marketing-artificial-intelligencebased-device-detect-certain-diabetes-related-eye

38 https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2019-N-1185-0001

39 https://www.fda.gov/media/109618/download

40 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/13/2020-00261/request-for-comments-on-a-draftmemorandum-to-the-heads-of-executive-departments-and-agencies

41 https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2019/08/10/ai_standards_fedengagement_plan_9aug2019.pdf

Train an AI-Ready Workforce

42 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905-2.pdf

43 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/STEM-Education-Strategic-Plan-2018.pdf

44 https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/task-force.htm

45 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-establishing-presidents-national-councilamerican-worker/

46 https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505359

47 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/STEM-Education-Strategic-Plan-2018.pdf

48 https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/task-force.htm

49 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-establishing-presidents-national-councilamerican-worker/

50 https://www.whitehouse.gov/pledge-to-americas-workers/

51 https://nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505620&org=NSF

Promote an International Environment Supportive of American AI Innovation

52 http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/employment/2018-labour-annex-b-en.html

53 https://www.oecd.org/going-digital/ai/principles/

54 https://www.oecd.org/going-digital/ai/principles/

Embrace Trustworthy AI for Government Services and Missions

55 https://coe.gsa.gov/coe/artificial-intelligence.html

56 https://www.ai.mil/

57 https://www.energy.gov/science-innovation/artificial-intelligence-and-technology-office

58 https://datascience.nih.gov/strategicplan

59 https://media.defense.gov/2019/Feb/12/2002088963/-1/-1/1/SUMMARY-OF-DOD-AI-STRATEGY.PDF

60 https://nrc.noaa.gov/Portals/0/Draft%20NOAA%20AI%20Strategy_v1-6.1_11.13.2019.pdf?ver=2019-11-14-004543-583

61 https://www.research.va.gov/naii/default.cfm

62 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/27/2019-18443/request-for-comments-on-patentingartificial-intelligence-inventions

63 https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/policy-initiatives/automatedvehicles/360956/ensuringamericanleadershipav4.pdf
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Abbreviations

AI artificial intelligence

COE Center of Excellence

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DoD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOT Department of Transportation

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FDA Food and Drug Administration

FHWA Federal Highway Administration

FY fiscal year

G7 Group of Seven

G20 Group of Twenty

GSA General Services Administration

JAIC Joint AI Center (DoD)

MLAI Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (Subcommittee of the NSTC)

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NIFA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA)

NIH National Institutes of Health

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NITRD Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NSF National Science Foundation

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

PCAST President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

R&D research and development

RFI Request for Information

RTML real time machine learning

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

UAS Unmanned Aerial (or Aircraft) System

USDA United States Department of Agriculture

VA Department of Veterans Affairs
AMERICAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INITIATIVE: YEAR ONE ANNUAL REPORT

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Copyright Information

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to the stipulations below, it may be distributed and copied with acknowledgment to OSTP. Copyrights to graphics 

included in this document are reserved by the original copyright holders or their assignees and are used here 

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Published in the United States of America, 2020.