United States of America: Issued OMB Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence

On 29 March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The memorandum outlines requirements for federal departments and agencies when using or procuring. In particular, the memorandum specifies that the procured AI systems should be consistent with the Constitution and comply with all other applicable laws, regulations and policies, including laws governing privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, and cybersecurity. Agencies that procure AI should take steps to ensure transparency and adequate performance by obtaining adequate documentation to assess the AI’s capabilities. The memorandum stipulates that if AI uses biometric data for identification verification, it may be subject to further requirements that require the installation of opt-out mechanisms. Furthermore, the memorandum proposes that agencies obtain adequate documentation of known limitations of the AI and guidelines on how the system is intended to be used, to obtain adequate information about the provenance of the data used to train the AI and to regularly evaluate claims made by federal contractors concerning the effectiveness of their AI offerings as well as the risk management measures put in place.