Deirdre Mulligan appointed White House deputy chief technology officer for policy

The Biden administration has appointed UC Berkley law professor Deirdre Mulligan as deputy United States chief technology officer for policy.

In the role, she will work to ensure that U.S. government policy is informed by tech and data expertise and will also act as a principal adviser to the National AI Initiative Office. Mulligan takes over from Lynne Parker, who last year stepped down from the post to return to academia.

While serving in the White House, she will be on leave from UC Berkeley, and in the new role will draw on her academic research, which focuses on how regulatory choices shape privacy and online content moderation practices and definitions of emerging “responsible AI” practices.

At Berkeley, she is a professor in the School of Information and a faculty director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

“I’m excited to bring the insights I’ve garnered through my interdisciplinary research and my decades of experience working on internet policy issues to assist the Biden Administration in advancing the privacy and equity priorities set out in the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” Mulligan said in a statement.

The National AI Initiative Office, launched in January 2021 under President Donald Trump, is responsible for coordinating artificial intelligence research and policymaking across government, industry and academia. It is focused on implementing a national AI strategy as directed by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 to increase research investment, improve access to computing and data resources, set technical standards, build a workforce, and engage with allies.