INSIDERS DINNER: THE AMERICAN AI STRATEGY 16 September 2019

The American AI Initiative has – at least on the surface – made government agencies put artificial intelligence on the priorities radar in their immediate and extended work. Important challenges include: the lack of a centralized platform to “hold people together”; help form a suite of best practices; ensure agencies advance in a strategically aligned fashion; hiring top AI talent into government roles; and the broader need for AI education across agencies to debunk myths, facilitate feasibility assessments and troubleshoot.

At the national level, the U.S. has to consider the urgency of the competition with other nations, particularly China, whose capacity to innovate is increasing. To stay competitive, there is a call for concrete goals from the White House to advance AI and for concrete funding to achieve these goals. Deeper public-private- academic collaboration is proposed for developing a responsible regulatory structure or enabling the vast troves of government data to serve the general public. As to the growing need for workers skilled in new technologies – is this achieved through incentivizing computer science studies, perhaps ensuring immigration policies allow American companies to brain gain global talent?

On workforce and broader society questions, the balancing act between infusing technology into the national culture via “computational or algorithmic thinking” and orienting toward broader sociotechnological priorities is shifting. Introducing computer science foundational curriculum in K-12 education could increase technological accessibility across all socio-economic layers of our society – and so could gaming – but we need a clear path for converting that fundamental knowledge into economically productive applications.

Participants Greg Allen, Chief of Strategy and Communications, Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) Bruce H. Andrews, Vice President of Global Public Policy, SoftBank* Carrie Budoff Brown, Editor, POLITICO Eric Engleman, Tech Editor, POLITICO Dr. Erwin Gianchandani, Deputy Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation Dr. Nick Hart, CEO, Data Coalition Matt Kaminski, Editor-in-Chief, POLITICO Andrew Kim, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google Cloud AI Dr. Dimitri Kusnezov, Deputy Undersecretary for A.I. and Technology, Department of Energy Thea Lee, Commissioner, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Damien Ma, Director of MacroPolo, The Paulson Institute Rep. Jerry McNerney, (D-CA), Co-Chair House AI Caucus Jackie Medecki, Director and Managing Attorney, U.S. AI and Healthcare Policy, Intel Corporation* Jason Oxman, JD, President and CEO, ITI Dr. Desmond Patton, Associate Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work Emily Reid, Vice President, Open Learning, AI4All David Ryan, General Manager, Health & Life Sciences Business, Intel Corporation Patrick Steel, CEO, POLITICO Christin Tinsworth Baker, Director of Public Affairs, SoftBank Group* Margaret Weichert, Deputy Director for Management, OMB, The White House David Wertime, Managing Director, Asia, Perpetual Capital

Facilitator Stacey Pavesi, Editor, AI Summit, POLITICO

ROUNDTABLE: THE IMMEDIATE IMPACT OF AI IN HEALTH CARE 17 September 2019

Of our two closed morning sessions, the group focused on “the immediate impact of AI in health care” started with near unanimous agreement that AI will create health care cost savings in the next 10 years. There was less unanimity about the path to such savings. It seems the utilization of AI in health care still varies greatly – more in clinical care management and ER or neurosurgical triage but another less in radiology.

The group examined the potential for AI to serve as a predictive technology, “like indicator lights in your car,” to forecast health issues or disease development for early treatment. Among obstacles is the limitation of our capacity to respond meaning earlier flags may not be beneficial without sure paths for early treatment.

Generalized AI-driven health care platforms or solutions aren’t likely in the near future without highly structured and well-managed international cooperation, particularly between developed and developing nations (the latter whose data is more likely to be underrepresented or unavailable in readily usable forms). What seems more likely is for AI to be developed and applied locally at first.

Decision support by AI was also a key theme, generating discussion about the need for greater data reliability and sharing as well as standards, with a particular emphasis on “unified foundations” and user-centered design. However, there is still ongoing debate about who should own standard setting. In their absence, it seems the major gap between ideological vs practical, market-driven evolution of AI in health care will persist.

Participants Dr. Gil Alterovitz, VA’s Director of AI, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Anthony Bak, Palantir Dr. Laura Coombs, Vice President, Data Science & Informatics, American College of Radiology Dr. Suraj Kapa, M.D., Cardiologist, Mayo Clinic Christopher Khoury, VP Strategy and Intelligence, American Medical Association Andrew Kim, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google Cloud AI Dr. Dimitri Kusnezov, Deputy Undersecretary for A.I. and Technology, Department of Energy Jackie Medecki, Director and Managing Attorney, U.S. AI and Healthcare Policy, Intel Corporation* Emily Miller, Director, National Security & Critical Infrastructure Programs, Mocana Daniel J. Mollura, MD, President & CEO, RAD-AID Elizabeth Mynatt, Executive Director, People and Technology Institute; Professor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Tech David Ryan, General Manager, Health & Life Sciences Business, Intel Corporation* Elham Tabassi, Chief of Staff and the lead for NIST’s AI Research Program

Moderators Joanne Kenen, Executive Editor, Health Care Arthur Allen, Editor, eHealth+Pharma

ROUNDTABLE: THE FUTURE OF WORK 17 September 2019

In the concurrent roundtable on the future of work, the group examined AI adoption by businesses and the emergence of a real need for organizational and leadership transformation to ensure effective integration of the technology. As of yet, there is still no clear evidence that AI is boosting productivity, though it was noted that society should watch how AI plays out in businesses as a testing ground for broader societal applications and potential response.

Polls and case studies reveal some surprising gaps between perception and response to AI as a work disruptor. Even if most people believe AI will eliminate “good” jobs, they also believe they are immune – perhaps because most people don’t know what skills will be needed as job markets shift. As for businesses, there is similar anxiety about change but relatively little investment in workforce preparedness.

Policy changes – in education, worker protections, investments in human capital, infrastructure, data - were identified as a key tool in the transition to an AI-integrated labor market. Lifelong learning accounts, benefits portability and on-the-job training were all noted, as was the feasibility gap for small businesses. Education was not only discussed as a baseline for AI training across socioeconomic and cultural groups, it was also identified as an industry that can benefit from AI.

There was a call for a national strategy for the future of work. National or continental models – both business and policy – are worth comparing, as the U.S., China and Europe look for the best ways to accept and include AI into their societies.

Participants Bruce H. Andrews, Vice President of Global Public Policy, SoftBank* Christin Tinsworth Baker, Director of Public Affairs, SoftBank* Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-AL) Jeffrey Brown, Future of Work and AI, Bertelsmann Foundation Dr. Grant Buckles, Research Consultant, Gallup Joy Dantong Ma, Associate Director of MacroPolo, The Paulson Institute Lisa Dyer, Head of Policy, Partnership on AI Nova Gattman, Deputy Director for External Affairs, Staff Coordinator, Health Workforce Council, Washington Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board Bret Greenstein, Vice President and Global Head of Artificial Intelligence, Cognizant Michael Lotito, Co-chair, Workplace Policy Institute, Littler; President, Emma Coalition Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director, Brookings Lisa Neuberger-Fernandez, Managing Director Strategy + Innovation, Accenture Tom Ogletree, Director of Social Impact, General Assembly Emily Reid, Vice President, Open Learning, AI4ALL Perry Samson, Professor, Climate and Space Science, MIDAS, University of Michigan Susan Schneider, NASA-Blumberg Chair, Library of Congress; Director of the AI, Mind and Society Group, University of Connecticut

Moderator Victoria Guida, Financial Services Reporter, POLITICO Pro