New EO Seeks to Bolster AI Cybersecurity

Federal policy on AI has shifted since January with the revocation of the previous administration’s Executive Order (EO) on AI and the new administration ordering a new AI policy plan. However, despite rollbacks and pivots in other areas, there is some continuity between administrations on cybersecurity. The new “Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity” EO is less prescriptive than the previous administration’s cybersecurity EOs, while maintaining many of the core themes. A recent memo from Wiley discusses how the new EO intersects with federal AI policy:

“The Trump EO builds on the Administration’s efforts to reframe AI policy around private sector innovation and further the adoption of AI within the federal government. Specifically, it refocuses AI ‘cybersecurity efforts towards identifying and managing vulnerabilities’ and ‘automating cyber defense.’ It also seeks to ‘ensure existing datasets for cyber defense research have been made accessible to the broader academic research community’ to the extent feasible.”

The new EO speaks to a variety of other cybersecurity issues. These include software supply chains, cloud services, and security in federal communications. While some priorities differ from the previous administration, both emphasize the cyber threats posed by foreign adversaries. The EO also outlines cybersecurity standards for federal agencies and contractors providing software to the government. While the administration is ushering in a deregulatory era for AI development, there does appear to be an acknowledgment of the need to regulate cybersecurity.