The Pandemic's Prod: Revamping America's Strategy for Rapid AI Implementation

The current pandemic has fast-tracked the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and created a crisis for America's technological leadership. But the United States can maintain its pole position in AI and reap the economic benefits if it adopts a whole-of-nation strategic approach. Forming a public-private venture permits the United States to create a winning strategy focused on three primary roles. First, a fiscally minded system to coordinate the government's research and development efforts with the academic and commercial sectors, maximizing and exploiting future technological leaps in AI. Second, an organized governance approach to synchronize the academic, commercial, and public segments as well as like-minded international partners, ensuring the AI policies and standards are supportive of American leadership and representative of democratic values. Third, a socially focused approach that enables municipal and commercial partnerships to provide the U.S. labor force with the essential skills that AI cannot replicate. Unfortunately, the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Given the pace of automation and the current economic crisis, leadership must act now to adopt this strategy and ensure a prosperous future for America.