Hodan Omaar

The biggest risk to consumers is that the myriad opportunities AI offers will not be translated into all the areas where they can make a positive difference in people’s lives.

Oppenheimer, has many people drawing parallels between the control of nuclear weapons and the calls to curb AI. But developing and deploying powerful AI systems is not like developing and deploying the atomic bomb.

The White House is developing a national artificial intelligence strategy to “chart a path for the United States to harness the benefits and mitigate the risks of AI.” Previous administrations and Congress have taken some steps toward this in the past, but those efforts did not go far enough.

A national AI strategy is necessary to bolster U.S. competitiveness, strengthen national security, and maximize the societal benefits that the country could derive from AI.

Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) launched a two-pronged proposal last week for a U.S. policy approach to AI. While the proposal lacks a clear call to promote widespread AI adoption, the Senator offers a sensible path to generating AI policy that remains innovation-friendly and balanced.

Several AI industry leaders and researchers signed an outlandish statement this week claiming AI systems pose an existential risk to humanity and urging policymakers to prepare for them with the same urgency they give nuclear war and pandemics. Their doomy predictions are nothing more than catastrophizing, but unfortunately, such hyperbolic claims fan the flames of AI fears and detract from productive discussions on how to ensure AI is developed and deployed in ways that serve society.

In response to China announcing draft regulations for generative AI to bolster the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on global AI rules, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unveiled a proposal last month to regulate AI in the United States. Senator Schumer should keep faith in—and advocate for—a light-touch approach to AI regulation because it provides a much-needed counter to the heavy-handed regulatory approach from China and the EU.

U.S. regulators should develop a plan to support AI systems that address bias in existing human-led processes.

The central message from the news media is clear: AI is here to take almost all the jobs, not just the blue-collar ones, the white-collar ones too. The problem is, many of the claims are hokum.

The Center for Data Innovation submits feedback on the European Commission’s key performance indicators to measure the progress towards the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 digital targets. The feedback includes proposed changes on how to improve some of the KPIs.

AI is transforming economic sectors and industries, creating new areas for innovations, and making its way into global trade discussions. A strong understanding of the AI landscape will be important to the International Trade Administration (ITA) and the Department of Commerce to ensure policy actions effectively strengthen the international competitiveness of U.S. industry and foster economic growth by promoting trade and investment.

The 117th Congress was the most AI-focused congressional session in history with 130 AI bills proposed, so it is a good moment to take stock of U.S. AI policy accomplishments to date and identify areas where there is room for continued progress.

Hodan Omaar speaks at Foreign Policy's FP Tech Forum during the 78th annual UN General Assembly. She joins an expert panel to explore how technologies are shaping geopolitics and development around the world.

Gillian Diebold and Hodan Omaar speak about artificial intelligence and how it will impact different sectors of society at a webinar hosted by the Internet Law & Policy Foundry.

Watch the panel discussion on what the NQIA got right, where there is room for improvement, and what policymakers should do next.

Watch ITIF's Center for Data Innovation's panel discussion on the impact and efficacy of AI policy to date. Experts will debate on how policymakers can best nurture the capabilities and activities of the U.S. AI ecosystem moving forward.

Hodan Omaar speaks at Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center's event emphasizing the importance that policymakers ensure to internationalize efforts to mitigate harm from deepfakes and disinformation as malign information campaigns are increasingly targeting non-English speakers and immigrant communities.

Watch the Center for Data Innovation's discussion on the proposed amendments to the EU’s AI Act for general-purpose systems and its implications for AI development, innovation, and deployment in the EU and beyond.

Hodan Omaar presented at the "Democracy Affirming Technology: Restoring Trust Online" event, which identified and discussed solutions for some of the problems surrounding disinformation online, including the threat of deepfake information campaigns to national security and democratic values.

ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation held a panel discussion on how policymakers can maximize social good by encouraging the reuse of aggregated, anonymized, private-sector mobility data while protecting individual users’ privacy.

Watch ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation for a conversation with Ben Shneiderman, whose new book calls for a “human-centered” perspective on AI, as opposed to a “technology-centered” focus, so as to better serve human needs.

ITIF's Center for Data Innovation hosted a discussion about a new report exploring steps Congress and federal agencies can take to support quantum computing in the United States.

ITIF's Center for Data Innovation hosted a video webinar to discuss the transatlantic opportunities and challenges to promoting better cooperation in military use of AI.

ITIF's Center for Data Innovation hosted a conversation with Lauren Klein on her new book Data Feminism, co-authored with Catherine D’Ignazio.