Presidential Documents

78939 

Federal Register 

Vol. 85, No. 236 

Tuesday, December 8, 2020 

Title 3— 

The President 

Executive Order 13960 of December 3, 2020 

Promoting the Use of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in 

the Federal Government 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Purpose. Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to drive the growth 

of the United States economy and improve the quality of life of all Americans. 

In alignment with Executive Order 13859 of February 11, 2019 (Maintaining 

American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence), executive departments and 

agencies (agencies) have recognized the power of AI to improve their operations, processes, and procedures; meet strategic goals; reduce costs; enhance 

oversight of the use of taxpayer funds; increase efficiency and mission 

effectiveness; improve quality of services; improve safety; train workforces; 

and support decision making by the Federal workforce, among other positive 

developments. Given the broad applicability of AI, nearly every agency 

and those served by those agencies can benefit from the appropriate use 

of AI. 

Agencies are already leading the way in the use of AI by applying it 

to accelerate regulatory reform; review Federal solicitations for regulatory 

compliance; combat fraud, waste, and abuse committed against taxpayers; 

identify information security threats and assess trends in related illicit activities; enhance the security and interoperability of Federal Government information systems; facilitate review of large datasets; streamline processes for 

grant applications; model weather patterns; facilitate predictive maintenance; 

and much more. 

Agencies are encouraged to continue to use AI, when appropriate, to benefit 

the American people. The ongoing adoption and acceptance of AI will 

depend significantly on public trust. Agencies must therefore design, develop, 

acquire, and use AI in a manner that fosters public trust and confidence 

while protecting privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and American values, 

consistent with applicable law and the goals of Executive Order 13859. 

Certain agencies have already adopted guidelines and principles for the 

use of AI for national security or defense purposes, such as the Department 

of Defense’s Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence (February 24, 2020), 

and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Principles of Artificial 

Intelligence Ethics for the Intelligence Community (July 23, 2020) and its 

Artificial Intelligence Ethics Framework for the Intelligence Community (July 

23, 2020). Such guidelines and principles ensure that the use of AI in 

those contexts will benefit the American people and be worthy of their 

trust. 

Section 3 of this order establishes additional principles (Principles) for the 

use of AI in the Federal Government for purposes other than national security 

and defense, to similarly ensure that such uses are consistent with our 

Nation’s values and are beneficial to the public. This order further establishes 

a process for implementing these Principles through common policy guidance 

across agencies. 

Sec. 2. Policy. (a) It is the policy of the United States to promote the 

innovation and use of AI, where appropriate, to improve Government operations and services in a manner that fosters public trust, builds confidence 


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in AI, protects our Nation’s values, and remains consistent with all applicable 

laws, including those related to privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. 

(b) It is the policy of the United States that responsible agencies, as 

defined in section 8 of this order, shall, when considering the design, 

development, acquisition, and use of AI in Government, be guided by the 

common set of Principles set forth in section 3 of this order, which are 

designed to foster public trust and confidence in the use of AI, protect 

our Nation’s values, and ensure that the use of AI remains consistent with 

all applicable laws, including those related to privacy, civil rights, and 

civil liberties. 

(c) It is the policy of the United States that the Principles for the use 

of AI in Government shall be governed by common policy guidance issued 

by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as outlined in section 

4 of this order, consistent with applicable law. 

Sec. 3. Principles for Use of AI in Government. When designing, developing, 

acquiring, and using AI in the Federal Government, agencies shall adhere 

to the following Principles: 

(a) Lawful and respectful of our Nation’s values. Agencies shall design, 

develop, acquire, and use AI in a manner that exhibits due respect for 

our Nation’s values and is consistent with the Constitution and all other 

applicable laws and policies, including those addressing privacy, civil rights, 

and civil liberties. 

(b) Purposeful and performance-driven. Agencies shall seek opportunities 

for designing, developing, acquiring, and using AI, where the benefits of 

doing so significantly outweigh the risks, and the risks can be assessed 

and managed. 

(c) Accurate, reliable, and effective. Agencies shall ensure that their application of AI is consistent with the use cases for which that AI was trained, 

and such use is accurate, reliable, and effective. 

(d) Safe, secure, and resilient. Agencies shall ensure the safety, security, 

and resiliency of their AI applications, including resilience when confronted 

with systematic vulnerabilities, adversarial manipulation, and other malicious 

exploitation. 

(e) Understandable. Agencies shall ensure that the operations and outcomes 

of their AI applications are sufficiently understandable by subject matter 

experts, users, and others, as appropriate. 

(f) Responsible and traceable. Agencies shall ensure that human roles 

and responsibilities are clearly defined, understood, and appropriately assigned for the design, development, acquisition, and use of AI. Agencies 

shall ensure that AI is used in a manner consistent with these Principles 

and the purposes for which each use of AI is intended. The design, development, acquisition, and use of AI, as well as relevant inputs and outputs 

of particular AI applications, should be well documented and traceable, 

as appropriate and to the extent practicable. 

(g) Regularly monitored. Agencies shall ensure that their AI applications 

are regularly tested against these Principles. Mechanisms should be maintained to supersede, disengage, or deactivate existing applications of AI 

that demonstrate performance or outcomes that are inconsistent with their 

intended use or this order. 

(h) Transparent. Agencies shall be transparent in disclosing relevant information regarding their use of AI to appropriate stakeholders, including the 

Congress and the public, to the extent practicable and in accordance with 

applicable laws and policies, including with respect to the protection of 

privacy and of sensitive law enforcement, national security, and other protected information. 

(i) Accountable. Agencies shall be accountable for implementing and enforcing appropriate safeguards for the proper use and functioning of their 

applications of AI, and shall monitor, audit, and document compliance 


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with those safeguards. Agencies shall provide appropriate training to all 

agency personnel responsible for the design, development, acquisition, and 

use of AI. 

Sec. 4. Implementation of Principles. (a) Existing OMB policies currently 

address many aspects of information and information technology design, 

development, acquisition, and use that apply, but are not unique, to AI. 

To the extent they are consistent with the Principles set forth in this order 

and applicable law, these existing policies shall continue to apply to relevant 

aspects of AI use in Government. 

(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Director of OMB (Director), 

in coordination with key stakeholders identified by the Director, shall publicly post a roadmap for the policy guidance that OMB intends to create 

or revise to better support the use of AI, consistent with this order. This 

roadmap shall include, where appropriate, a schedule for engaging with 

the public and timelines for finalizing relevant policy guidance. In addressing 

novel aspects of the use of AI in Government, OMB shall consider updates 

to the breadth of its policy guidance, including OMB Circulars and Management Memoranda. 

(c) Agencies shall continue to use voluntary consensus standards developed 

with industry participation, where available, when such use would not 

be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impracticable. Such standards shall also be taken into consideration by OMB when revising or developing AI guidance. 

Sec. 5. Agency Inventory of AI Use Cases. (a) Within 60 days of the date 

of this order, the Federal Chief Information Officers Council (CIO Council), 

in coordination with other interagency bodies as it deems appropriate, shall 

identify, provide guidance on, and make publicly available the criteria, 

format, and mechanisms for agency inventories of non-classified and nonsensitive use cases of AI by agencies. 

(b) Within 180 days of the CIO Council’s completion of the directive 

in section 5(a) of this order, and annually thereafter, each agency shall 

prepare an inventory of its non-classified and non-sensitive use cases of 

AI, within the scope defined by section 9 of this order, including current 

and planned uses, consistent with the agency’s mission. 

(c) As part of their respective inventories of AI use cases, agencies shall 

identify, review, and assess existing AI deployed and operating in support 

of agency missions for any inconsistencies with this order. 

(i) Within 120 days of completing their respective inventories, agencies 

shall develop plans either to achieve consistency with this order for each 

AI application or to retire AI applications found to be developed or 

used in a manner that is not consistent with this order. These plans 

must be approved by the agency-designated responsible official(s), as described in section 8 of this order, within this same 120-day time period. 

(ii) In coordination with the Agency Data Governance Body and relevant 

officials from agencies not represented within that body, agencies shall 

strive to implement the approved plans within 180 days of plan approval, 

subject to existing resource levels. 

(d) Within 60 days of the completion of their respective inventories of 

use cases of AI, agencies shall share their inventories with other agencies, 

to the extent practicable and consistent with applicable law and policy, 

including those concerning protection of privacy and of sensitive law enforcement, national security, and other protected information. This sharing shall 

be coordinated through the CIO and Chief Data Officer Councils, as well 

as other interagency bodies, as appropriate, to improve interagency coordination and information sharing for common use cases. 

(e) Within 120 days of the completion of their inventories, agencies shall 

make their inventories available to the public, to the extent practicable 

and in accordance with applicable law and policy, including those concerning the protection of privacy and of sensitive law enforcement, national 

security, and other protected information. 


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Sec. 6. Interagency Coordination. Agencies are expected to participate in 

interagency bodies for the purpose of advancing the implementation of the 

Principles and the use of AI consistent with this order. Within 45 days 

of this order, the CIO Council shall publish a list of recommended interagency 

bodies and forums in which agencies may elect to participate, as appropriate 

and consistent with their respective authorities and missions. 

Sec. 7. AI Implementation Expertise. (a) Within 90 days of the date of 

this order, the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program, administered 

by the General Services Administration (GSA) in collaboration with other 

agencies, shall identify priority areas of expertise and establish an AI track 

to attract experts from industry and academia to undertake a period of 

work at an agency. These PIF experts will work within agencies to further 

the design, development, acquisition, and use of AI in Government, consistent 

with this order. 

(b) Within 45 days of the date of this order, the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM), in coordination with GSA and relevant agencies, shall 

create an inventory of Federal Government rotational programs and determine 

how these programs can be used to expand the number of employees with 

AI expertise at the agencies. 

(c) Within 180 days of the creation of the inventory of Government rotational programs described in section 7(b) of this order, OPM shall issue 

a report with recommendations for how the programs in the inventory 

can be best used to expand the number of employees with AI expertise 

at the agencies. This report shall be shared with the interagency coordination 

bodies identified pursuant to section 6 of this order, enabling agencies 

to better use these programs for the use of AI, consistent with this order. 

Sec. 8. Responsible Agencies and Officials. (a) For purposes of this order, 

the term ‘‘agency’’ refers to all agencies described in section 3502, subsection 

(1), of title 44, United States Code, except for the agencies described in 

section 3502, subsection (5), of title 44. 

(b) This order applies to agencies that have use cases for AI that fall 

within the scope defined in section 9 of this order, and excludes the Department of Defense and those agencies and agency components with functions 

that lie wholly within the Intelligence Community. The term ‘‘Intelligence 

Community’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3003 of title 50, 

United States Code. 

(c) Within 30 days of the date of this order, each agency shall specify 

the responsible official(s) at that agency who will coordinate implementation 

of the Principles set forth in section 3 of this order with the Agency Data 

Governance Body and other relevant officials and will collaborate with the 

interagency coordination bodies identified pursuant to section 6 of this 

order. 

Sec. 9. Scope of Application. (a) This order uses the definition of AI set 

forth in section 238(g) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2019 as a reference point. As Federal Government use of AI matures 

and evolves, OMB guidance developed or revised pursuant to section 4 

of this order shall include such definitions as are necessary to ensure the 

application of the Principles in this order to appropriate use cases. 

(b) Except for the exclusions set forth in section 9(d) of this order, or 

provided for by applicable law, the Principles and implementation guidance 

in this order shall apply to AI designed, developed, acquired, or used 

specifically to advance the execution of agencies’ missions, enhance decision 

making, or provide the public with a specified benefit. 

(c) This order applies to both existing and new uses of AI; both standalone AI and AI embedded within other systems or applications; AI developed both by the agency or by third parties on behalf of agencies for 

the fulfilment of specific agency missions, including relevant data inputs 

used to train AI and outputs used in support of decision making; and 

agencies’ procurement of AI applications. 


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(d) This order does not apply to: 

(i) AI used in defense or national security systems (as defined in 44 

U.S.C. 3552(b)(6) or as determined by the agency), in whole or in part, 

although agencies shall adhere to other applicable guidelines and principles 

for defense and national security purposes, such as those adopted by 

the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National 

Intelligence; 

(ii) AI embedded within common commercial products, such as word 

processors or map navigation systems, while noting that Government use 

of such products must nevertheless comply with applicable law and policy 

to assure the protection of safety, security, privacy, civil rights, civil 

liberties, and American values; and 

(iii) AI research and development (R&D) activities, although the Principles 

and OMB implementation guidance should inform any R&D directed at 

potential future applications of AI in the Federal Government. 

Sec. 10. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed 

to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, 

or the head thereof; or 

(ii) the functions of the Director relating to budgetary, administrative, 

or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, 

employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

December 3, 2020. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27065 

Filed 12–7–20; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3295–F1–P 


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