With Congress in summer recess and state legislative sessions waning, the Biden Administration continues to implement its October 2023 Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (“EO”).  On July 26, the White House announced a series of federal agency actions under the EO for managing AI safety and security risks, hiring AI talent in the government workforce, promoting AI innovation, and advancing US global AI leadership.  On the same day, the Department of Commerce released new guidance on AI red-team testing, secure AI software development, generative AI risk management, and a plan for promoting and developing global AI standards.  These announcements—which the White House emphasized were on time within the 270-day deadline set by the EO—mark the latest in a series of federal agency activities to implement the EO.

AI Red-Teaming Testing and Risk Management 

On July 26, NIST’s U.S. AI Safety Institute (“US AISI”) released initial public draft guidelines on “Managing Misuse Risk for Dual-Use Foundation Models.” The guidelines outline practices for preventing malicious actors from recreating foundation models or deploying them to harm the public and include recommendations for developer red-teaming testing.  US AISI is accepting public comments on the draft until September 9, 2024.

NIST released the final version of its Generative AI Profile and companion resource.  The Generative AI Profile applies NIST’s 2023 AI Risk Management Framework to 12 risks that are “unique to or exacerbated by” generative AI, including data privacy and information security, environmental impacts, harmful bias, harmful or obscene synthetic content, and IP risks. 

These developments build on NIST’s May 28, 2024, release of its Assessing Risks and Impacts of AI (“ARIA”) pilot program, a test environment focusing on testing the risks and impacts of large language models, and the National Science Foundation’s July 23, 2024, launch of an AI test beds initiative for studying AI methods and systems and January 24, 2024, launch of the National AI Research Resource (“NAIRR”) pilot for compiling and sharing AI resources.

Secure AI Software Development Practices

NIST released the finalized version of its publication on “Secure Software Development Practices for Generative AI and Dual-Use Foundation Models,” supplementing NIST’s 2022 Secure Software Development Framework document.  The new companion resource addresses risks related to malicious training data that can adversely affect the performance of generative AI systems.   NIST also released Dioptra, an open-source software package designed to help AI developers and customers test the resiliency of AI models against adversarial attacks.

Global AI Standards

On July 26, the White House released the final version of its Implementation Roadmap for the May 2023 U.S. National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (“NSSCET”), following public comment on a draft roadmap released in June.  That same day, NIST also released the final version of its “Plan for Global Engagement on AI Standards” (“Plan”), which incorporates stakeholder feedback and public comments on an earlier draft.  Incorporating principles from the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and the US NSSCET, the Plan identifies over a dozen AI topic areas with clear or pressing needs for standardization, including defining key terminology for AI concepts, methods and metrics for assessing AI performance, risks, and benefits, and practices for maintaining and processing AI training data. 

These recent federal agency actions are just a subset of ongoing activities to implement the Biden Administration’s AI EO, and we anticipate more AI initiatives and developments as the White House approaches the one-year anniversary of the EO in October.  These efforts build on a number of agency efforts in the first half of 2024, including a Commerce Department proposed rule regulating infrastructure-as-a-service providers and guidance on the use of AI by federal agencies from the White House Office of Management and Budget. 

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Follow our Global Policy Watch, Inside Global Tech, and Inside Privacy blogs for ongoing updates on key AI and other technology legislative and regulatory developments.

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Photo of Matthew Shapanka Matthew Shapanka

Matthew Shapanka is a strategic policy and regulatory attorney who helps technology companies and other businesses navigate complex, high-stakes legislative, regulatory, and enforcement matters at the intersection of law and politics. Drawing on 15+ years of experience across private practice, the U.S. Senate…

Matthew Shapanka is a strategic policy and regulatory attorney who helps technology companies and other businesses navigate complex, high-stakes legislative, regulatory, and enforcement matters at the intersection of law and politics. Drawing on 15+ years of experience across private practice, the U.S. Senate, state government, and political campaigns, Matt develops comprehensive policy strategies that identify regulatory risks and position clients to shape policy outcomes.

Public Policy and Regulatory Strategy

Matt serves as a strategic advisor to Fortune 200 companies on emerging technology policy, including artificial intelligence regulation, connected and autonomous vehicles, semiconductors, IoT, and national security matters. He translates complex legal and technical issues into actionable legislative and regulatory strategy, building the policy frameworks and advocacy infrastructure that enable clients to influence policy. He develops policy collateral for federal, state, and international advocacy, coordinates multi-stakeholder coalitions, and represents clients before Congress, federal agencies, and state legislative and regulatory bodies.

His technology policy experience includes securing unprecedented Presidential intervention in the $118 billion Qualcomm-Broadcom transaction (for which Covington was recognized as The American Lawyer 2019 “Dealmakers of the Year”), advising Fortune 200 companies on Bureau of Industry and Security connected vehicle rules, and counseling major internet platforms on autonomous vehicle policy across dozens of states.

Matt leads Covington’s state public policy practice, managing complex multistate legislative and regulatory advocacy campaigns. His state-level work includes securing a last-minute amendment to California’s 2023 money transmitter legislation on behalf of a fintech client and representing major technology companies on state AI, autonomous vehicle, and political advertising compliance matters across dozens of jurisdictions.

Matt rejoined Covington after serving as Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration under Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), where he negotiated the landmark bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act – legislation that updated presidential election certification procedures for the first time in nearly 140 years. He also oversaw the Committee’s bipartisan January 6th investigation, developing protocols that resulted in unanimous passage of new Capitol security legislation.

Both in Congress and at Covington, Matt has prepared dozens of corporate executives, nonprofit leaders, academics, and presidential nominees for testimony at congressional committee hearings and depositions. He is a skilled legislative drafter and strategist who has composed dozens of bills and amendments introduced in Congress and state legislatures, including many that have been enacted into law.

Election and Political Law Compliance and Enforcement

As a member of Covington’s Chambers-ranked (Band 1) Election and Political Law practice, Matt advises businesses, nonprofits, political committees, candidates, and donors on the full range of federal and state political law compliance matters, including:

Election and campaign finance laws
Lobbying disclosure
Government ethics rules
The SEC Pay-to-Play Rule

He also conducts political law due diligence for M&A transactions, counsels major political funders and donors in compliance and enforcement matters, and represents candidates, ballot measure committees, and donors in election disputes and recounts.

Before law school, Matt served in the administration of former Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA), where he worked on policy, communications, and compliance matters for federal economic recovery funding awarded to the state. He has also staffed federal, state, and local political candidates in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

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Photo of August Gweon August Gweon

August Gweon counsels national and multinational companies on new regulatory frameworks governing artificial intelligence, robotics, and other emerging technologies, digital services, and digital infrastructure. August leverages his AI and technology policy experiences to help clients understand AI industry developments, emerging risks, and policy…

August Gweon counsels national and multinational companies on new regulatory frameworks governing artificial intelligence, robotics, and other emerging technologies, digital services, and digital infrastructure. August leverages his AI and technology policy experiences to help clients understand AI industry developments, emerging risks, and policy and enforcement trends. He regularly advises clients on AI governance, risk management, and compliance under data privacy, consumer protection, safety, procurement, and platform laws.

August’s practice includes providing comprehensive advice on U.S. state and federal AI policies and legislation, including the Colorado AI Act and state laws regulating automated decision-making technologies, AI-generated content, generative AI systems and chatbots, and foundation models. He also assists clients in assessing risks and compliance under federal and state privacy laws like the California Privacy Rights Act, responding to government inquiries and investigations, and engaging in AI public policy advocacy and rulemaking.

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