National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan 2023 Update

• Authority: Executive Office of the President
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. regulations, executive orders, and agency policies
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2023-05-04

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Unfair discrimination and misrepresentation
• Unequal performance across groups
• Compromise of privacy
• AI system security vulnerabilities
• Governance failure
• Environmental harm
• Lack of capability or robustness
• Lack of transparency or interpretability

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Exposure to toxic content
• False or misleading information
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Overreliance and unsafe use
• Loss of human agency and autonomy
• Power centralization and unfair distribution
• Increased inequality and decline in employment
• Competitive dynamics
• AI pursuing its own goals
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities
• Multi-agent risks

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 12-14 subdomains, with strong focus on AI system safety and failures (7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4), ethical and societal implications (1.1, 1.3, 3.1), security vulnerabilities (2.2), governance (6.5), competitive dynamics (6.4), environmental harm (6.6), and workforce impacts (6.2). Coverage is concentrated in responsible AI development, safety, security, fairness, and socioeconomic considerations.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Scientific Research & Development Services

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities
• Finance & Insurance
• Educational Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)
• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This is a cross-sectoral R&D strategic plan that does not govern specific economic sectors but rather provides guidance for federal AI research investments that span multiple application domains. The document mentions AI applications across healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, finance, education, and other sectors as areas for research focus, but does not regulate AI use within these sectors.

Legislative Status

Soft Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a strategic planning document that provides guidance and recommendations for federal AI R&D investments. It uses predominantly voluntary language ('should', 'can', 'may') and lacks binding enforcement mechanisms or legal penalties.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document is issued by the Executive Office of the President and developed by OSTP with coordination through the National AI Initiative Office, which is explicitly identified as the central coordination point for federal AI activities.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The plan targets federal agencies to coordinate their AI R&D investments, as well as the broader AI research community including academia and industry that receive federal funding or participate in federally-supported programs.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The NAIIO coordinates implementation and the document establishes metrics for evaluating agency progress, though enforcement is through coordination and reporting rather than penalties.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document establishes monitoring through progress reports updated every three years and metrics to track federal agency implementation.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document comprehensively covers all AI lifecycle stages with particular emphasis on Plan and Design, Build and Use Model, and Operate and Monitor. It addresses the entire R&D pipeline from fundamental research through deployment and ongoing monitoring.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• Foundation Models
• AI Systems
• General Purpose AI
• Generative AI
• Open Weight / Open Source

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions AI models, AI systems, and foundation models. It discusses general-purpose AI extensively but does not use the specific term 'GPAI'. It does not explicitly mention task-specific AI, frontier AI, or specific compute thresholds. Generative AI is explicitly discussed. Open-weight models are not explicitly mentioned.