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Remarks by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo at the Meeting of the President’s Export Council Fall 2023

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Thank you, Mark and Roz. Welcome to the second meeting of the President’s Export Council under the Biden Administration. I’m honored we’re joined by so many colleagues.

Since our last meeting, we’ve acted on many of your recommendations, which are informing our policies to expand exports and ensure all U.S. companies can compete and succeed in international markets.

First, I am pleased to announce that we are in the process of reestablishing the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration, or PECSEA, which is in line with your recommendation. As the global security and economic environments have become more challenging, export controls have become even more important, and we’ve had to be more creative in our use of existing authorities. The PECSEA will gather insight from key stakeholders to ensure our controls are carefully tailored to maximize our national security impact while advancing U.S. technological leadership. Lisa Disbrow will be designated Chair of the PECSEA, and the formal Federal Register notice for the solicitation of members will go out soon. We look forward to getting it up and running in the new year.

Second, the PEC recommended taking a global leadership role on AI. One month ago, President Biden issued an Executive Order to build U.S. capacity to evaluate and mitigate the risks of AI systems to help ensure safety, security and trust while promoting an innovative, competitive AI ecosystem that supports workers and protects consumers.

Commerce will play a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s approach of seizing the potential that comes with AI while mitigating risk. That includes establishing the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (USAISI) to lead efforts on AI safety and trust, particularly for evaluating the most advanced AI models.

Led by NIST, USAISI will facilitate the development of standards for safety, security, and testing of AI models, develop standards for authenticating AI-generated content, and provide testing environments for researchers. It will leverage outside expertise, working with partners in academia, industry, government, and civil society, and with similar institutes in ally and partner nations to align and coordinate work in this sphere. Together, we will ensure the U.S. is a global leader on innovative, safe, and responsible AI and work to fulfill the President’s vision to manage the risks and harness the benefits of AI.

One final item before we get started. Last meeting, I mentioned that I was hoping to take PEC members to the Indo Pacific for a fact-finding trip. I’m happy to announce that we will be going to the Philippines and Thailand in March 2024. I’m looking forward to visiting the region with you all next year. With that, it’s my honor to turn the meeting back to Mark and Roz.