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Outreach and Development of this Report
This report was developed by a team in the Executive Office of the President including staff
from the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), Domestic Policy Council (DPC),
National Economic Council (NEC), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Office of
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). This report follows a previous report published in
October 2016 titled Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence and the accompanying
National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan, developed by the
National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Subcommittee on Machine Learning and
Artificial Intelligence. This subcommittee was chartered in May 2016 by OSTP to foster
interagency coordination and provide technical and policy advice on topics related to AI, and to
monitor the development of AI technologies across industry, the research community, and the
Federal Government. This report also follows a series of public-outreach activities as a part of
the White House Future of Artificial Intelligence Initiative, designed to allow government
officials to learn from experts and from the public, which included five co-hosted public
workshops, and a public Request for Information (RFI).^2
This report more deeply examines the impact of AI-driven automation on the economy and
policy responses to it. It considers the economic evidence to better understand the lessons from
past waves of automation, the impact already caused by the current wave of AI-driven
automation and its prospects for the near future, and how AI-driven automation may affect
workers in the future. The report also considers policy steps that are needed to address the
economic dislocation caused by the arrival of these technologies and to prepare for longer-term
trends in the economy caused by AI, automation, and other factors that are systemically
disadvantaging certain workers. The report lays out three broad strategies for policymakers to
consider.
(^2) Ed Felten and Terah Lyons, “Public Input and Next Steps on the Future of Artificial Intelligence,” Medium,
September 6 2016 (https://medium.com/@USCTO/public-input-and-next-steps-on-the-future-of-
artificialintelligence-458b82059fc3). Further details on the public workshops and the RFI can be found in the
October 2016 report, Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence.