AI Policy Contributions

NIST expertise in AI enables the agency to make important technical contributions to the development of policies. NIST plays a key role as a neutral convener of organizations and individuals with disparate views about AI matters. The agency’s active participation in national and global discussions can help to shape the development of trustworthy and responsible AI.

NIST’s work supports several US activities initiated or addressed by the TTC.

US-EU Trade and Technology Council AI-Related Efforts

During their fourth ministerial meeting (May 2023), the U.S. and EU TTC co-chairs reviewed progress and announced key initiatives including advancement of its joint AI Roadmap through launching three expert groups to focus on AI terminology and taxonomy, standards and tools for trustworthy AI and risk management, and monitoring and measuring AI risks.  The groups have (i) issued a list of 65 key AI terms essential to understanding risk-based approaches to AI, along with their U.S. and EU interpretations and shared U.S.-EU definitions and (ii) mapped the respective involvement of the United States and the European Union in standardization activities with the goal of identifying relevant AI-related standards of mutual interest.  The United States and the European Union decided to add special emphasis on generative AI, including its opportunities and risks, to the work on the Roadmap. This work will complement the G7 Hiroshima AI process. The joint statement is found here.

This Roadmap, shared at the TTC Ministerial Meeting (December 2022), aims to guide the development of tools, methodologies, and approaches to AI risk management and trustworthy AI. It advances U.S. and EU shared interest to support international standardization efforts and promote trustworthy AI on the basis of a shared dedication to democratic values and human rights.

The U.S.-EU Joint Statement of the TTC (May 2022) expressed an intention to develop a joint roadmap on evaluation and measurement tools for trustworthy AI and risk management. 

Contributing to Federal Engagements that Explore or Determine AI-Related Policies

• NIST leads and participates in several federal AI policymaking efforts and engages with many other federal offices and interagency groups. 
• This includes establishing and administering the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC), co-chairing the National Science and Technology Council’s Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee, co-chairing the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development’s (NITRD) AI Working group, and founding and co-chairing the AI Standards Coordination Working Group (AISCWG) under the Interagency Committee on Standards Policy (ICSP). NIST's AI lead also serves as Federal AI Standards Coordinator and is a member of the National AI Research Resource Task Force.

Participating in Major AI Forums

• NIST engages with private, public, and non-profit organizations – directly and via international forums and other dialogues – about AI-related policies that align with NIST’s mission and technical contributions. NIST also convenes national and international stakeholders to ensure two-way communications on select AI-related issues.

Research Partnerships 

• NIST also teams with other organizations to advance policy decision making. That includes co-funding a partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) on an Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS) led by the University of Maryland. TRAILS aims to transform the practice of AI from one driven primarily by technological innovation to one driven with attention to ethics, human rights, and support for communities whose voices have been marginalized into mainstream AI. TRAILS is the first Institute of its kind to integrate participatory design, technology, and governance of AI systems and technologies and will focus on investigating what trust in AI looks like, whether current technical solutions for AI can be trusted, and which policy models can effectively sustain AI trustworthiness.

Developing Guidance for Sharing AI Data

• Congress assigned NIST with developing guidance to facilitate voluntary data sharing arrangements among industry, federally funded research centers, and federal agencies to advance AI research and technologies. That includes offering options for partnership models between government entities, industry, universities, and nonprofits that incentivize each to share the data they have collected.