Dr. Isbell Goes to Washington – Again – to Discuss Artificial Intelligence

UPDATE (May 11): Read Charles Isbell's thoughts about the meeting and what was discussed in this Wired article.

Artificial intelligence (AI) ­– and its ever-expanding role in the U.S. economy – is in the spotlight today as technology leaders from business, government, and academia gather in Washington D.C. for a White House meeting to discuss the opportunities and challenges of this emerging technology.

The White House Office for Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is hosting the daylong meeting, which executives from 35 major U.S. companies including Facebook, Amazon, Google, Intel, NVIDIA, and Oracle are expected to attend.

The focus of the meeting is AI research and development, workforce, and regulations.

Georgia Tech College of Computing Executive Associate Dean Charles Isbell, along with a small group of his peers from academia, has been invited to participate in the discussions.

“There’s not a sector in the U.S. economy that isn’t being impacted by AI,” said Isbell. “But that doesn’t mean that what makes regulatory sense for, say the auto industry, will necessarily make sense for pharmaceuticals.”

He added, “The U.S. has a real opportunity to take the lead and set the standard for the ethical, human-centered development of AI – regardless of the sector – to deliver on the promise of this transformative technology in ways that we have yet to imagine.”

Representatives from the Pentagon and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Transportation are also slated to participate in the White House AI meeting.

Isbell was in Washington earlier this year testifying before the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Technology about the national and global impact of AI and machine learning.