On Monday, September 23, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ), released an update to its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP) guidance. The ECCP guidance was last revised in March 2023, which brought a number of significant changes, including a focus on compensation and incentive structures (e.g., clawbacks), and third party messaging applications. This 2024 update, while not as significant in scope as its predecessor, nonetheless highlights the DOJ’s focus on new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), as part of its evolving assessment of what makes a corporate compliance program truly effective, and how prosecutors should evaluate risk assessments and other management tools at the time of a corporate resolution.Continue Reading Putting the “AI” in Compliance—DOJ Updates its Corporate Compliance Program Guidance to Address Emerging AI Risks and Leveraging Data
Enhanced Review by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General into the Loan Programs Office Poses Increased Risks to Loan Program Applicants
As the Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) Loan Programs Office (“LPO”) continues to finance clean energy manufacturing and deployment in the United States, the recent announcement by the DOE’s Office of Inspector General’s (“DOE OIG”) that it intends to scrutinize LPO’s due diligence process increases the risk to program applicants. According to a recent notice issued on SAM.gov, the DOE OIG intends to issue a sole source contract for legal support “assessing the policies and procedures” for the due diligence of loan applications, and evaluate specific LPO loans and guarantees to assess their compliance with, consistency in application of, and the effectiveness of LPO policies and procedures, as well as related Governmentwide regulations, policies, procedures, and directives, to identify specific points of weakness in due diligence practices, and to recommend improvements to mitigate risks.Continue Reading Enhanced Review by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General into the Loan Programs Office Poses Increased Risks to Loan Program Applicants
Private Sector Helps Lead the Way: Biden-Harris Administration Secures Voluntary Commitments from Leading Artificial Intelligence Companies to Manage the Risks Posed by AI
On July 21, 2023, the Biden administration announced that seven companies leading the development of artificial intelligence (AI) — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI — have made voluntary commitments, which the companies agreed to undertake immediately, to help move towards safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology. The goal of the voluntary commitments, or the “AI Agreement” as it is informally dubbed, is to establish a set of standards that promote the principles of safety, security, and trust deemed fundamental to the future of AI. Continue Reading Private Sector Helps Lead the Way: Biden-Harris Administration Secures Voluntary Commitments from Leading Artificial Intelligence Companies to Manage the Risks Posed by AI
NIST Publishes an Initial Draft AI Risk Management Framework and Guidance to Address Bias in AI
On March 17, 2022, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) published an initial draft of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Risk Management Framework (“AI RMF”) to promote the development and use of responsible AI technologies and systems. When final, the three-part AI RMF is intended for voluntary use and to improve the ability to