The US Executive Order on artificial intelligence is out.

But some perceive a coming “regulatory cage.”

That’s the viewpoint the R Street Institute published this morning, Adam Thierer, a senior fellow for the R Street Institute’s technology and innovation team and AI expert, sees an incipient “regulatory cage.” He summarized five key points from his assessment:

• “While some will appreciate the whole-of-government approach to AI required by the order, if taken too far, unilateral and heavy-handed administrative meddling in AI markets could undermine America’s global competitiveness and even the nation’s geopolitical security. AI is a critical new technology with the potential to fundamentally expand productivity and economic growth, with benefits accruing across many sectors and for all consumers. AI has particularly important implications for advancing public health. AI and computational science also have national security ramifications, which is why a strong and secure domestic technology base is essential to countering challenges or threats from China and other nations. Excessive preemptive regulation of AI systems could impede the growth of these technologies or limit their potential in various ways.”
• “The new executive order highlights how the administration is adopting an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to AI policy that is, at once, extremely ambitious and potentially over-zealous. The implementation details on all the matters here are mostly left to the various federal agencies to work out, and it remains unclear how far they can stretch their statutory authority to enforce many of these stipulations. Even so, taken together with other recent administration statements, the order represents a potential sea change in the nation’s approach to digital technology markets as federal policymakers appear ready to shun the open innovation model that made American firms global leaders in almost all computing and digital technology sectors.”
• “There are some positive and much-needed elements to the EO, however, including its call ‘to expand the ability of highly skilled immigrants and nonimmigrants with expertise in critical areas to study, stay, and work in the United States by modernizing and streamlining visa criteria, interviews, and reviews.’ For some time, there has been a pressing need to expand efforts to retain skilled immigrant workers, with many technology companies and experts worried about losing top-notch talent to other nations. But most of the order focuses on broader and extremely amorphous calls for expanded government oversight across many other issues and agencies, raising the risk of a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ scenario for AI policy in the US.” 
• “Of greater concern is the executive order’s green light for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to expand its focus on AI policy. While the FTC does possess broad powers to police unfair and deceptive practices for all markets, the danger of preemptive overreach exists with the EO’s call for the FTC to exercise greater regulatory authority over the AI ecosystem in particular.” 
• “With the administration’s recent actions, one can’t help but worry that the Biden administration is looking to follow in the E.U.’s footsteps on AI policy with more comprehensive controls on computation and meddling in digital tech markets. There is still time to pursue a more enlightened path. To balance innovation and safety, AI governance must be focused on flexible, collaborative, iterative, bottom-up governance solutions through risk-based policies that are focused on system outcomes, not on system inputs or design.”