December 24, 2019
The United States Needs a Strategy for Artificial Intelligence
In the coming years, artificial intelligence will dramatically affect every aspect of human life. AI—the technologies that simulate intelligent behavior in machines—will change how we process, understand, and analyze information; it will make some jobs obsolete, transform most others, and create whole new industries; it will change how we teach, grow our food, and treat our sick. The technology will also change how we wage war. For all of these reasons, leadership in AI, more than any other emerging technology, will confer economic, political, and military strength in this century—and that is why it is essential for the United States to get it right.
That begins with creating a national strategy for AI—a whole-of-society effort that can create the opportunities, shape the outcome, and prepare for the inevitable challenges for U.S. society that this new technological era will bring. The United States has taken important steps in this direction. In February, the White House launched the American AI Initiative, which articulates a comprehensive vision for American leadership in AI. Last month, the Congressionally-mandated National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) released its interim report, which outlines five lines of effort to help ensure U.S. technological leadership.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
Image credit: ORNL/Carlos Jones/Flickr
More from CNAS
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
Taiwan Is the Key to AI DominanceA country determined to win the defining technological race of the century can’t allow its chief rival to control the industrial base on which that race depends....
By David Feith
-
Legal Background: Distinguishing Between Law Enforcement Powers
Commentary
Matthew Kroscher is a second-year law student at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and was a spring 2026 CNAS legal intern....
By Matthew Kroscher
-
An Achievable Balance
Commentary
Terrence M. Cunningham is the deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the IACP. Gene Voegtlin is the director of policy, research, and public affairs at the I...
By Terrence M. Cunningham & Gene Voegtlin
-
Podcast
Defense / Technology & National Security
WarTalk: Iran War with Jack ShanahanThe “love tap” White House readout. A failed convoy operation. KSA pulling overflight rights. Iran with 70% of its missile force still intact. And one F-15E shoot-down from ab...
By Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan & Jordan Schneider
