In case you did not see this, On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. AI is already being used in a variety of ways on college campuses, from teaching and learning to research and administration. I am pretty sure that the executive order will have implications for us in higher ed.

One of the key goals of the executive order is to promote the responsible and ethical development and use of AI. This is important for us because these systems are as good as their training datasets and therefore likely to amplify biases and inequalities in the training datasets and the corpus of information they continue to learn from. For example, if an AI system is used to grade student essays, it could be biased against certain groups of students, such as those from underrepresented minority backgrounds.

The fact that AI systems are growing rapidly, such an intervention is necessary and I would say this kind of intervention on a developing technology has happened in record time compared to previous ones.  The order directs federal agencies to develop and implement standards for the safe and secure development and use of AI. These standards should include measures to ensure that AI systems are fair and unbiased, and that they do not discriminate against individuals or groups.

Whereas the intent should be praised, there are problems. Are the government agencies equipped well enough to understand the technology enough to develop standards and policies? Will the government allocate the required funding to get them up to speed on this or will they fight over this along the party lines? Finally, it is well and good that we are developing this here in the US, but this is a global problem with the malicious users of these technologies likely to be elsewhere in the world!

Other key aspects of the executive order are:

• wants the federal agencies to promote innovation and competition in the AI sector
• directs federal agencies to work with international partners to advance AI development and use in a responsible and ethical manner (I am skeptical that this can be done easily)
• directs federal agencies to support AI research and development, and to ensure that the United States remains a leader in AI. This could lead to new funding opportunities for AI research at colleges and universities, as well as the development of new AI-powered educational tools and resources.

I think this is a step in the right direction and at the right time. 

Here are some specific ways that higher education institutions can prepare for the implementation of the executive order:

• Develop AI governance policies and procedures – This will help to ensure that AI systems are developed and used in a responsible and ethical manner.
• FInd ways to identify biases in existing AI systems – This will help to identify and address any potential biases in these systems. 
• Invest in AI education and training for faculty and staff – This will help to ensure that everyone on campus understands the basics of AI and how to use it responsibly.
• Collaborate –  I don’t think one institution can do this by itself and this would be a terrific collaboration opportunity for like minded institutions.

*** Written with assistance from Google Bard