Mayor’s Order 2024-028
February 8, 2024
SUBJECT: Articulating DC’s Artificial Intelligence Values and Establishing Artificial Intelligence Strategic Benchmarks
ORIGINATING AGENCY: Office of the Mayor
By virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the District of Columbia by sections 422(4) and (11) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, 87 Stat. 790; Pub. L No. 93-198, D.C. Official Code §§ 1-204.22(4) and (11), it is hereby ORDERED that:
I. PURPOSES AND BACKGROUND
This Order:
A. Articulates six overarching Artificial Intelligence (AI) Values which District government agencies must consider before deploying an AI tool;
B. Establishes an AI Advisory Group on AI Values Alignment to conduct regular community and stakeholder engagement concerning these AI Values;
C. Identifies a series of AI strategic benchmarks, in the form of internal governance standards and strategic plans, to be created within prescribed deadlines; and
DEstablishes an AI Taskforce to examine the District’s current internal AI governance posture and to support agency leadership in meeting the prescribed AI Strategic Benchmarks, and to provide the Mayor with advice and recommendations to further the goals of responsible and effective use of AI tools by District government agencies.
II. DEFINITIONS
When used in this Order, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed:
A. “AI” refers to the broad class of technologies developed or marketed to be capable of performing tasks otherwise requiring an intelligent human agent. Relevant tasks include, without limitation, natural language processing including text and speech generation, image analysis and generation, and a wide variety of probabilistically determined classifications, predictions, scorings, and assessments.
B. “AI tool” refers to any enterprise product or service a major component of which relies upon AI to function at all. AI tool does not refer to products or services which make only ancillary use of AI, or which are designed to make use of AI to accommodate a person with a disability.
C. “Deploy” refers to the act of operating an AI tool outside of a test environment, and includes both agency-external use and agency-internal use. In addition, test environment use constitutes deployment if any enterprise data classified higher than Level 0, will, by virtue of such test use, be viewable by any person outside the District government.
III. DISTRICT GOVERNMENT AI VALUES
Each agency planning to deploy an AI tool shall first verify whether such deployment is in alignment with the following AI Values, assess impacts to these AI Values, consider what controls might be used to mitigate negative impacts, and document its review:
A. Clear Benefit to Residents
No AI tool shall be deployed unless the deploying agency has verified that the deployment will benefit District residents. An agency deploying an AI tool shall articulate its purpose in deploying the tool, who will benefit from the planned deployment, and what alternative means of achieving the purpose and the benefit were considered.
B. Safety and Equity
No AI tool shall be deployed unless the deploying agency has carefully considered how deployment will impact safety and equity in the District, and weighed such impacts against the impacts of alternative courses of action, including maintenance of the status quo.
C. Accountability
No AI tool shall be deployed unless the deploying agency has articulated how deployment will maintain meaningful accountability for government action. An agency deploying an AI tool shall explain what steps it has taken to preserve human accountability for every action or determination flowing from the AI tool.
D. Transparency
No AI tool shall be deployed unless the deploying agency has articulated how the deployment will be conducted transparently. An agency deploying an AI tool shall explain when and how it will disclose when persons are directly interacting with an AI tool, like an AI-powered chat bot, and not a human
E. Sustainability
No AI tool shall be deployed unless the deploying agency has considered the deployment’s sustainability. An agency deploying an AI tool shall explain what steps it has taken to assess the environmental impact of both use and development of the relevant AI tool, and the impact deployment will have upon employee displacement and job quality of District employees.
F. Privacy and Cybersecurity
No AI tool shall be deployed unless the deploying agency has carefully considered the deployment’s impact upon privacy and cybersecurity. An agency deploying an AI tool shall explain how it plans to ensure the deployment does not violate privacy rights or undermine the privacy of residents, employees, and visitors.
IV. ADVISORY GROUP ON AI VALUES ALIGNMENT
A. There is hereby established in the Executive Branch of the Government of the District of Columbia the Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence Values Alignment (“Advisory Group”).
B. The purpose of the Advisory Group is to engage with internal and external stakeholders on the proper intersection of the District’s AI Values and emerging and future AI technologies to ensure all stakeholder perspectives are heard, and to advise the Mayor on the refinement and alignment of the District government’s AI Values on an ongoing basis.
C. The Advisory Group shall:
1. Hold public listening sessions to solicit public input on the appropriate government use of AI tools.\
2. Upon request of the Mayor, review a specific AI tool, deployment, or general AI technology and advise the Mayor on how the tool, deployment, or technology might best be brought into alignment with the District’s AI Values.
3. Undertake such other functions as may be requested by the Mayor.
D. The Advisory Group shall comprise the following members, all of whom shall be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Mayor:
1. The following public members, who shall not be employees of the District government:
a. One public member to serve as the Community Co-Chair of the Advisory Group;
b. Additional public members whose expertise shall include: racial equity; disability rights; labor relations; criminal justice; education; healthcare; privacy; cybersecurity; and transparency/open government.
2. The following government members:
a. The City Administrator or their designee, who shall serve as the Government Co-Chair of the Advisory Group;
b. The Director of the Office of Racial Equity or their designee;
c. The Director of the Office of Disability Rights or their designee;
d. The Director of the Mayor’s Office on African-American Affairs or their designee;
e. The Director of the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining or their designee;
f. The Executive Director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council or their designee;The Director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency or their designee;\
h. The Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools or their designee;
i. The State Superintendent of Education or their designee;
j. The Director of the Department of Health or their designee;
k. The Chief Technology Officer or their designee;
l. The Chief Information Security Officer or their designee;
m. The Director of the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel or their designee; and
n. The Director of the Office of Open Government or their designee.
o. The Director of the Department of Employment Services or their designee;
p. The Director of the Department of Human Resources or their designee; and
q. The Chief Procurement Officer of the Office of Contracting and Procurement or their designee.
E. Public members of the Advisory Group shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor from the date of their appointment until December 31, 2026, unless earlier removed by the Mayor. The Mayor shall appoint members to fill vacancies for the remainder of the unexpired term. Government members shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
F. The Advisory Group shall establish its own internal committees, bylaws, and rules of procedure, subject to approval by the Mayor.
G. The Advisory Group shall meet at the joint call of the co-chairs, and at the call of the City Administrator. The Advisory Group shall hold at least two public listening sessions in Fiscal Year 2024, and at least one public listening session each fiscal year thereafter.
H. The Office of the City Administrator, and such District government agencies as may be designated by the City Administrator, shall provide administrative support to the Advisory Group.
I. The members of the Advisory Group shall serve without compensation, except that a member of the Advisory Group or a committee may be reimbursed for expenses incurred in the authorized execution of their official duties if the City Administrator or their designee approves the reimbursement.
J. The Advisory Group shall sunset on December 31, 2026.
V. AI STRATEGIC BENCHMARKS
The following District agencies shall work with the AI Taskforce to create the following governance standards and strategic plans by the following deadlines:
A. By May 8, 2024, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer shall submit to the Office of the City Administrator for review and approval standard privacy review processes governing: the approval of deployments of AI tools which will make use of enterprise data classified higher than Level 0; and the regular review of the District government’s Enterprise Data Inventory in light of privacy risks arising from emerging or future AI functionalities.
B. By May 8, 2024, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer shall submit to the Office of the City Administrator for review and approval standard cybersecurity review processes governing: the approval of deployments of AI tools which interact with the District government’s information technology environment, including deployments that precede the effective date of this Order; and the regular review and assessment of emerging, AI-powered cybersecurity threats.
C. By August 8, 2024, the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Employment Services shall submit to the Office of the City Administrator for review and approval an integrated recruitment and workforce development plan. The plan shall identify existing recruitment and workforce development resources relevant to the emerging AI job sector and shall articulate strategies for growing the AI-ready workforce in the District of Columbia and recruiting AI talent into the District government workforce.
D. By August 8, 2024, the Department of Human Resources and the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, in consultation with the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining, shall submit to the Office of the City Administrator for review and approval a body of comprehensive training materials on the proper use of AI tools by District government personnel.
E. By September 6, 2024, the Office of Contracting and Procurement shall submit to the Office of the City Administrator for review and approval a mandatory AI procurement handbook. This AI procurement handbook shall provide guidance to agencies in the basic capabilities of broad categories of AI tools, structuring and scoping AI tool procurements, and effectively monitoring performance of procured AI tools.
F. Before October 1, 2024, a first cohort of agencies selected by the City Administrator, before October 1, 2025, a second cohort of agencies selected by the City Administrator, and before October 1, 2026, the final cohort of agencies selected by the City Administrator, shall submit to the Office of the City Administrator for review and approval their agency-specific AI strategic plans. These agency- specific AI strategic plans shall identify: aspects of the agency’s mission where currently available AI tools may improve agency performance, areas where the incorporation of AI tools may present new risks, safeguards the agency will utilize to mitigate risks presented by the deployment of AI tools, and the agency’s AI tool deployment stakeholder engagement plan.
VI. AI TASKFORCE
A. There is hereby established in the Executive Branch of the Government of the District of Columbia the Artificial Intelligence Taskforce (“AI Taskforce”).
B. The purpose of the AI Taskforce is to provide deep AI strategy and governance expertise and support to the Mayor and agency leadership, and to coordinate agency efforts to meet the AI Strategic Benchmarks established by section V. of this Order.
C. The AI Taskforce shall:
1. Upon request of the Mayor or her designee, review and provide technical advice on any specific AI tool, deployment, or general AI technology;
2. Provide regular reports to the City Administrator concerning agency progress in meeting the AI Strategic Benchmarks;
3. Furnish AI expertise and guidance as necessary to ensure agencies meet the AI Strategic Benchmarks;
4. Develop a form whereby agencies can record their assessment of each AI tool deployment’s alignment with the District’s AI Values;
5. Undertake such other functions as may be requested by the Mayor.
D. The AI Taskforce shall comprise five members, all of whom shall be District government employees,one each with expertise in: AI and technology law; AI and technology enablement; AI and data science; AI and software development; and AI and cybersecurity.
E. One member of the AI Taskforce shall be designated by the Mayor as Taskforce Lead.
F. Members of the AI Taskforce shall be appointed by the Mayor and shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor from the date of their appointment until December 31, 2026, unless earlier removed by the Mayor.
G. The AI Taskforce shall be composed of District government full-time employees, serving the District government within the ordinary course of their employment. The AI Taskforce is not a public body, and does not conduct meetings, as such terms are defined by the District of Columbia Open Meetings Act, effective March 31, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-350; D.C. Official Code §§ 2-571 et seq. (2016 Repl.)).
H. The Office of the Chief Technology Officer shall provide administrative support to the AI Taskforce.
I. The members of the AI Taskforce shall serve without compensation.
J. The AI Taskforce shall sunset on December 31, 2026.
VII. EFFECTIVE DATE: This Order shall become effective immediately.