ACUS Announces New Initiatives on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Federal Administrative Process

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact:  Harry M. Seidman
202.480.2085
hseidman@acus.gov
 

ACUS Announces New Initiatives on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Federal Administrative Process

Washington, D.C., November 28, 2018 - The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is pleased to announce upcoming partnerships with renowned scholars on the use of artificial intelligence in the federal administrative process.

First, a collaboration with Stanford Law School and New York University (NYU) School of Law will result in a report to the Office of the Chairman of the Administrative Conference on existing and potential uses of artificial intelligence to improve administrative adjudication, rulemaking, and other regulatory activities throughout the federal government. The Office of the Chairman, in turn, will share the report’s findings with agencies throughout the federal government and may use them to develop agency-wide recommendations on artificial intelligence.

Stanford Law Professors David Engstrom and Daniel Ho, NYU School of Law Professor and ACUS public member Catherine Sharkey, and California Supreme Court Justice and Stanford Law faculty member Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, who also served as a presidentially-appointed member of the ACUS Council, will lead the project. A significant amount of the work under the project will be performed as a policy practicum convened during winter 2019 as part of Stanford Law’s Law and Policy Lab, co-directed by former Stanford Law Dean Paul Brest, in which faculty-led student teams perform research and counsel clients using both legal and policy-analytic tools. Paul Verkuil of the National Academy of Public Administration and former ACUS Chairman will advise on portions of this work.

To examine discrete aspects of the use of artificial intelligence within federal agencies, the Office of the Chairman of the Administrative Conference will also work with University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor and ACUS public member Cary Coglianese. Professor Coglianese, who directs the Penn Program on Regulation, has worked extensively on issues pertaining to the use of artificial intelligence in federal agencies. His articles on the topic, including Regulating by Robot: Administrative Decision Making in the Machine-Learning Era, have been published in leading law journals. Professor Coglianese’s research may result in one or more additional reports to the Office of the Chairman.

“ACUS is honored that so many distinguished scholars have chosen to collaborate with ACUS on this important initiative,” said Matt Wiener, ACUS Acting Chairman and Vice Chairman. “ACUS thanks them, as well as Stanford Law Dean Elizabeth Magill, for their many contributions to ACUS’s important work in improving the fairness and efficiency of federal administrative programs.”  

About ACUS

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent federal agency dedicated to improving the administrative process through consensus-driven applied research and providing nonpartisan expert advice and recommendations for federal agency procedures. Its membership is composed of senior federal officials, academics, and other experts from the private sector. Except for the Chairman, all Conference Members are unpaid.

The Conference is committed to promoting effective public participation and efficiency in the rulemaking process by leveraging interactive technologies and encouraging open communication with the public as well as making improvements to the regulatory process by reducing unnecessary litigation, and improving the use of science and the effectiveness of applicable laws. 

Learn more at www.acus.gov.

# # #

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin