July 19, 2023 — Data & Society’s comment to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) outlines the broader strategy we believe the White House should pursue to ensure that AI technology not only is safe, responsible, and trustworthy — but that it is developed in the public interest for the benefit of people, not Big Tech.

A national AI strategy centered on people’s rights should comprise a key pillar in the administration’s economic plan. It should reject a laissez-faire market approach and instead recognize that strategic areas of the US economy, such as artificial intelligence, require direct government intervention and guidance to ensure they are developed for the public good.

Specifically, we argue that a national AI strategy should:

• Implement OSTP’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights across federal agencies,
• Direct AI development in the public interest towards socially productive outcomes,
• Ban AI where the harms are too great,
• Limit job loss and make “AI factory” jobs good jobs,
• Strengthen the country’s scientific and sociotechnical knowledge, and
• Engage Congress to pass much-needed federal legislation.