Camille Crittenden, executive director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute and a member of the University of California Presidential Working Group on Artificial Intelligence, has penned an op-ed on the opportunities open to higher education in the October 2023 White House Executive Order on trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI).
According to Crittenden, the executive order champions strategies to achieve “safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence” that universities can both help implement and benefit from. Explicit points of action such as investing in AI research and education and improving responsible governance align with the goals of higher education institutes, which are similarly navigating the forefront of AI development. Implicit benefits include relaxing immigration policies for students and workers with AI expertise, encouraging more support for entrepreneurship and requiring AI vendors to test their applications for potential harm before institutions adopt them.
“As the largest institution of public higher education in the world in a state that is home to the leading tech companies creating and selling AI products and platforms,” said Crittenden, “the University of California has an opportunity to lead the way in productively addressing the priorities articulated by the Biden administration.”