How Federal Funding Terms and Conditions Could Encourage Safe Artificial Intelligence Development
Expert InsightsPublished Nov 26, 2024
In November 2023, the Biden administration issued an executive order to help federal agencies manage risks associated with procuring artificial intelligence (AI) systems. As Congress and the executive branch consider options to oversee, regulate, and implement AI in federal agencies, the use of federal funding terms and conditions for AI presents both opportunities and challenges.
In this paper, the authors examine policy and regulatory opportunities available to the U.S. federal government to enforce safety and security requirements on AI systems supported by U.S. government funds and discuss how use of terms and conditions for recipients of federal contracts or requirements in grant-based funding might help implement such requirements for AI systems. The authors examine past uses of federal funding terms and conditions, including past criticisms, and provide options for how such terms and conditions might be used by federal agencies in the context of procuring AI.
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Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Year: 2024
- Pages: 18
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/PEA3204-1
- Document Number: PE-A3204-1
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Consaul, Ryan and Gregory Smith, How Federal Funding Terms and Conditions Could Encourage Safe Artificial Intelligence Development, RAND Corporation, PE-A3204-1, November 2024. As of April 9, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3204-1.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Consaul, Ryan and Gregory Smith, How Federal Funding Terms and Conditions Could Encourage Safe Artificial Intelligence Development. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3204-1.html.
Research conducted by
This work was initially independently initiated and conducted within the Technology and Security Policy Center within RAND Global and Emerging Risks. This research was finished through funding provided by DALHAP Investments Ltd.
This publication is part of the RAND expert insights series. The expert insights series presents perspectives on timely policy issues.
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