FACT SHEET: DHS Advances Efforts to Reduce the Risks at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Threats

On October 30, 2023, President Biden signed Executive Order (E.O.) 14110 on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. The overarching goal of the E.O. was “to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI)” and to establish a governance framework for the safe and responsible development and use of AI.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has played a key role in implementing the E.O.. Section 4.4 of the E.O. highlighted the need “to better understand and mitigate the risk of AI being misused to assist in the development or use of CBRN threats – with a particular focus on biological weapons.” Within DHS, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD) is the office responsible for leading DHS efforts and coordinating with domestic and international partners to safeguard the United States against CBRN threats. CWMD led the development of an AI CBRN Report that evaluated “the potential for AI to be misused to enable the development or production of CBRN threats, while also considering the benefits and application of AI to counter these threats.”

The AI CBRN Report was developed through strong collaboration across the United States Government, academia, and industry. CWMD solicited insights from DHS Agencies and Offices and consulted with experts in AI and CBRN issues from the Department of Energy, private AI laboratories, academia, think thanks, and third-party model evaluators to evaluate AI model capabilities to present, mitigate, or guard against CBRN threats.

DHS released selected findings from the AI CBRN Report to the President.