On October 30, 2023, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order about the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” focusing on the application and implications of AI in various sectors of government, including immigration. The new order has the potential to reshape practices in departments and agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (DOS).
According to an analysis by Jackson Lewis P.C., the realization of this directive is forecasted to impact how immigration policies are formulated, implemented, and reviewed. It may also provide opportunities for better precision, efficiency, and transparency within the immigration system. However, alongside it also come various challenges and valid concerns echoed by both citizens and legal professionals alike.
The Executive Order asks the relevant departments and agencies to establish fresh standards for how AI is used. This call for new operational protocols could affect everything from the day-to-day processing of immigration applications to the strategic decision-making surrounding immigration policy. With AI’s known potential to streamline workloads and improve decision-making accuracy through data analysis, the results of this directive could be significant.
On the other hand, the new guidelines would need to address concerns about AI’s potential contribution to bias, privacy invasion and errors whose effect could potentially be devastating on individual immigration cases. It therefore becomes an imperative for the legal community to be actively involved in the formulation of these new standards, to ensure that the impact of AI is felt positively, and the negatives are minimized.
As the federal government branches out into uncharted territories by integrating AI deeper into its systems, legal professionals must stay abreast with the fundamental shifts that this could bring about in their work. As this Executive Order illustrates, the interplay between technology and law is continually evolving and requires constant vigilance and responsiveness.
Legal professionals, especially those focused on immigration law, are therefore prompted to adapt their strategies accordingly and engage with the technological challenges and opportunities this Order brings. The role of AI in government has moved beyond speculation, and it has become apparent that it will play a vital role in the future of legal decision making in the US.