White House Action Plan
The Administration has released a general roadmap aimed more at establishing US leadership in AI. Areas of focus include the following:
Workforce training: Expansion of AI literacy across education, apprenticeships and retraining, with the Department of the Treasury considering tax-free treatment of employer-sponsored AI training. The DOL may use discretionary funds for displaced workers and launch retraining pilots.
Labor market monitoring: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Analysis of AI’s impact on jobs and wages, supported by a new DOL AI Workforce Research Hub.
Regulatory and funding levers: Federal agencies may weigh a state’s AI regulatory climate when awarding funds. The plan directs a review of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement to avoid hindering innovation and updates procurement rules requiring contracted AI systems to be free of ideological bias.
Legislation: California, Texas and Colorado have passed AI legislation (Virginia’s proposed law was vetoed by the governor for several reasons.)
Litigation: A number of lawsuits have been brought against AI recruiting programs for bias against age (against Workday), disability (against Amazon) and defective algorithms. A common thread in these lawsuits is lack of human involvement and governance in the decision-making. Greater scrutiny of vendors is also advised.