The Biden administration announced Thursday that federal agencies have met the six-month deadline for actions included in the president’s executive order for regulating artificial intelligence while also spurring responsible innovation.

President Joe Biden’s sweeping Oct. 30 order is aimed at helping steer tech companies to develop AI technologies without realizing their potential harms. 

“AI is all around us,” he said when he signed the order. “To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risk, we need to govern this technology.”

Biden’s order included directives with deadlines ranging from 90 days to a year. All of the assignment have, to date, been complete on time, the White House said.

Artificial intelligence is being heralded by some as revolutionary technology that could reshape many aspects of life — everything from searching the internet to curing diseases. But some argue it could also make people expendable at their jobs, be used to promote disinformation or spiral out of the control of humans if systems are allowed to write and execute their own code, among other concerns.

Among the completed actions announced Monday: 

• To help guard against AI being used to create dangerous biological materials, agencies have developed a framework for screening nucleic acid synthesis. That process can be used to engineer and study viruses but has the potential, either intentionally or accidentally, to cause harm.
  
  
• The government has released for public comment draft documents on managing generative AI risks, securely developing generative AI systems and reducing the risks of AI-generated content. Generative artificial intelligence allows users to create realistic video, pictures, audio and text, often by simply entering a prompt. The documents will provide additional guidance to individuals and organizations to manage AI risks. The Biden administration is also hoping its efforts will help in setting international standards.  
  
  
• The government has launched an AI Safety and Security Board to advise the Homeland Security secretary, the critical infrastructure community and others on the safe and secure development and deployment of AI used in critical infrastructure. 
  
  
• The Biden administration has released various guidance and create a new rule aimed to avoiding discrimination in employment, housing and health care created by AI tools.
  
  
• The Energy Department announced funding opportunities for using AI in science.
  
  
• Federal agencies have hired more than 150 AI employees and are on track to hire hundreds more by this summer.