March 26, 2024

New Dem AI Working Group Leads Letter on Biden Admin’s Executive Order to Advance the Responsible Development and Deployment of AI

Washington, D.C. — Today, New Democrat Coalition Artificial Intelligence Working Group Vice Chair Haley Stevens (MI-11) and Chair Derek Kilmer (WA-06) led 38 Members in a letter to the Biden-Harris Administration supporting President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence and encouraging further action to develop a robust federal AI workforce; reskill and upskill the nation’s workforce for AI-related job changes; and expand diversity in the AI workforce.

The letter also requests more information on the progress of the priorities outlined in the Executive Order. Artificial Intelligence Working Group Vice Chair Haley Stevens and Chair Derek Kilmer released the following statement on the letter: 

“New Dems are committed to ensuring the responsible development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence. As AI becomes increasingly prevalent across all sectors of the economy, it’s critical that we build a workforce to match,” said Artificial Intelligence Working Group Vice Chair Haley Stevens and Chair Derek Kilmer. “We look forward to reviewing the responses and will work with Congress and the Administration to ensure that our workforce is prepared to meet the needs and demands of the 21st-century economy.”

You can read the full letter to government regulators here and below:

Dear Dr. Prabhakar:

We write to express our support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to empower our nation’s workforce to navigate and advance the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI). President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (“Executive Order”) reaffirms our nation’s commitment and leadership on the unique opportunities and challenges posed by AI, including workforce impacts. As your office continues its work in standing up the initiatives from the Executive Order, we encourage these efforts to focus on developing a robust federal AI workforce; reskilling and upskilling the nation’s workforce for AI-related job changes; and expanding diversity in the AI workforce to ensure equitable AI systems. With these goals in mind, we also request additional information about the progress of these priorities outlined in the Executive Order. 

As the Executive Order describes, the development and deployment of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems and applications will require a whole-of-government approach led by a talented federal workforce that recognizes the unique benefits and challenges posed by different use-cases of AI. The risks and rewards of AI in national security, financial services, cybersecurity, data privacy, and manufacturing vary considerably, which will require a robust federal workforce that is knowledgeable of these considerations. 

With that in mind, we applaud the extensive workforce development activities outlined in the Executive Order to grow the federal workforce on AI, including the AI Talent Surge that will accelerate the rapid hiring of AI professionals and the upskilling of our current federal workforce. These workforce activities build on bipartisan, forward-looking Congressional actions, such as the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the AI in Government Act of 2020, and the National AI Initiative Act of 2020, that recognize the importance of bolstering our federal workforce to ensure our continued leadership on emerging technologies, including AI. In this vein, developing a robust federal AI workforce will require our federal agencies to attract and retain talented workers; therefore, it is of the utmost importance that our federal agencies are fully funded to not only carry out their work of national interest but also care for their employees. 

Additionally, the use of AI in the workforce has the potential to significantly change American jobs, requiring that we focus efforts on upskilling and reskilling our current workforce and invest in the development of a robust AI workforce pipeline. A recent report on workforce impacts by the International Monetary Fund estimated that globally, 40% of jobs will be exposed to AI and that in advanced economies, like the United States, nearly 60% of jobs will be exposed. The increased exposure of our national workforce to AI applications highlights the urgency of investing in the American worker to use AI safely, securely, and in a trustworthy manner. These efforts must include the training of workers across sectors, such as manufacturing and agriculture; opportunities provided through short-term credentials and career and technical education; and efforts to increase diverse participation in highly technical fields related to AI development and deployment.

Finally, as the Executive Order highlights, the “irresponsible use [of AI] could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation.” As a result, our commitment to developing and deploying safe, secure, and trustworthy AI must yield equitable outcomes. Unfortunately, we have already seen inequitable AI outcome reports in financial services, law enforcement, and hiring practices, among others. As a result, we cannot allow for future AI applications to lead to injustices that may create or reinforce bias and discrimination, or otherwise create barriers to services and opportunities. 

The CHIPS and Science Act included the Broadening Participation in Science Act, authored by the late Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, to increase diverse STEM participation in recognition that our technologies are only as good as the individuals in the room who develop them. Ensuring diverse participation in AI development and deployment through broadening STEM participation, engaging diverse voices and institutions like HBCUs and MSIs, and promoting the use of diverse training data is essential to the equitable development and deployment of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI. Furthermore, the development of AI represents an enormous economic opportunity that our nation must seize on to ensure our continued global competitiveness; however, we must remain committed to ensuring that the benefits of this opportunity are also felt by workers. While AI represents significant promise and innovation, we must ensure that AI adoption in the workforce is equitable. That also requires efforts to provide workers and small- and medium-sized employers with the resources, training, and tools needed to successfully navigate and adapt to new AI-related job market demands and skills.

To achieve the goals outlined in the Executive Order, we must focus our efforts on building out a robust federal AI workforce, upskilling and reskilling our current workers, and pursuing diverse participation in AI-related fields. With these goals in mind, we respectfully request your response to the following questions:

  1. The recent legislative actions outlined in this Executive Order have created an intricate web of AI-related programs across the federal government that are best leveraged with strong interagency collaboration. How does your office plan to coordinate these collaborative efforts across the federal government and what support do you need to achieve effective collaboration?

  2. How does your office intend to coordinate with the fellowships and programs operated by National Science Foundation (NSF), such as ExpandAI, National AI Research Institutes, the National AI Research Resource pilot program, and the National Innovation Network, to deliver on the workforce development goals in the Executive Order?

    1. How does your office plan to leverage this extensive network of partnerships at the federal, state, and local levels to support the development of skills that reflect the needs of regional AI workforces, including existing STEM education and workforce pathways in related fields?

    2. How will your office prioritize the inclusion of underrepresented communities and institutions within this network to support the goals of achieving a diverse AI workforce?

  3. The Biden Administration announced the National AI Talent Surge to build and govern AI for the federal government. In what ways is the National AI Talent Surge anticipated to continue to serve and evolve to support long-term federal AI workforce goals? 

  1. What are the highest-demand roles that the National AI Talent Surge is seeking to fill?

  2. What best practices are being applied to this effort to attract and retain a diverse talent pool of candidates?

  3. In what ways is the National AI Talent Surge coordinating with universities, colleges, and K-12 stakeholders to ensure that related curriculum is tied to federal government needs in the AI space?

  1. How does your office intend to coordinate with relevant agencies, including the Department of Labor (DOL), on mitigating the potentially harmful impacts of AI on workers and maximizing the benefits, including through the reskilling and upskilling of the workforce?

    1. How will your office work with the DOL to ensure that their required dissemination of AI best practices for employers not only includes small and medium-sized employers across the economy but also engages the correct federal agency to provide sector-specific information?

    2. How will your office support the incorporation of AI and machine learning technologies across sectors, such as manufacturing, transportation, and agriculture, through reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce? Will these interagency activities be coordinated with NSF, DOL, and NIST? 

    3. How will your office engage with DOL’s existing programs, including apprenticeships and other workforce development partnerships, to build out an AI workforce?

    4. How will your office engage with the National Labor Relations Board and labor organizations to ensure a worker-centered approach to AI implementation?

  2. As mentioned above, AI systems are only as good as the individuals engaged in their development, deployment, and testing. This highlights the need for diversity in our federal education and workforce efforts. How will your office use other best practices to expand the diversity of the AI workforce?

    1. How will your office prioritize the coordination of federal activities with women or minority owned businesses to ensure that AI benefits are experienced by all Americans and that feedback is being solicited from historically underserved populations in the technology sector?

    2. How will your office prioritize the coordination of federal education and workforce activities with minority serving institutions (MSIs), including HBCUs, tribal colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions, to diversify participation in STEM and address harmful biases?

    3. How will your office assist in the coordination of AI trust and safety research, like at NIST and NSF, to utilize researchers from populations historically underrepresented in the technology sector, like those at non-R1 institutions, HBCUs, other MSIs, and career and technical institutions?

  3. Developing the AI workforce will require the federal government to coordinate with regional partners, like local employers, career and technical institutions, and universities, to create AI-specific programs for regional economies. With these goals in mind, we respectfully request your response to the following questions:

    1. How will your office coordinate with the NSF, the Department of Education, the DOL, the Department of Commerce, and other relevant federal agencies to encourage the development of regionally relevant programs, including activities supported through existing programs?

    2. How will your office coordinate with local education entities, including K-12 districts, state education agencies, career and technical educational entities, and colleges and universities to ensure that educational pathways, including related curriculum, are matching the workforce needs of specific regions?

    3. How will your office prioritize the collaboration of regional partners in rural areas to address systemic issues and bridge the digital divide to ensure that our entire country feels the benefits of new AI technologies?

We thank you for your time and consideration of our questions and look forward to your response.

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