The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security kicked off the New Year by enacting the agency’s first export restrictions on a so-called “emerging” technology—artificial intelligence software used to analyze geospatial imagery, such as satellite images. 

The interim control took effect Monday, which means the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States also could begin scrutinizing geospatial AI software as a technology that is critical to national security under the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act.