Recent Congressional Action on AI

Last week, I touched on the AI provisions in the draft versions of the FY 2025 NDAA. Given AI’s depth and breadth of transformation, there is more brewing in Congress to bolster the technology while also setting guardrails around it.

On the Senate side, the AI working group, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, issued an AI roadmap in May 2024. The roadmap details the conclusion of nine forums the working group hosted in the fall of 2023 and serves as a bipartisan guidance for collaborative congressional committee action in the following:

• Supporting U.S. Innovation in AI
• AI and the Workforce
• High Impact Uses of AI
• Elections and Democracy
• Privacy and Liability
• Transparency, Explainability, Intellectual Property, and Copyright
• Safeguarding Against AI Risks
• National Security

The AI roadmap issued by the Senate's AI working group supports the allocation of $32B per year beginning FY 2026 for non-defense AI innovation, an amount which stems from a National Security Commission report in 2021. The funding would support AI R&D infrastructure and tools at various agencies, including Energy, Commerce, NSF, NASA and NIH. The roadmap also urges the development of AI standards for critical infrastructure and the testing and evaluation of AI systems in the federal procurement process. Additionally, the roadmap encourages the advancement of watermarking and sourced digital content for AI-generated content. Moreover, it promotes transparency among AI software providers and developers, as well as protections against the impact of AI on copyright and intellectual property law. The roadmap also addresses AI risks and encourages opportunities to strengthen the AI workforce in the IC and defense sectors, to use AI to manage space debris, and to address the energy demands of AI systems.

On the House side is a bipartisan AI task force, created earlier this year, to achieve three goals through legislation: promote innovation, support federal funding, and increase AI transparency. The task force plans to issue a report on AI congressional action by year’s end.

Meanwhile, members of Congress continue to introduce AI-centric bills, some of which may have impacts on the contractor community. While there’s quite a few proposed AI bills floating in Congress, the below touches on a select recent ones that may capture industry interest:

Bill #	Title	Description
N/A	Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (VET AI) Act	Establishes the standards internal auditors and third party auditors should use to evaluate AI systems.
N/A	Promoting Responsible Evaluation and Procurement to Advance Readiness for Enterprise-wide Deployment (PREPARED) for AI Act	Requires government AI contracts include safety and security terms for data ownership and civil liberties. Also proposes AI system governance structures to lead AI procurements.
S.4495	Enable safe, responsible, and agile procurement, development, and use of artificial intelligence by the Federal Government…	Seeks to enable safe, responsible, and agile procurement, development, and use of artificial intelligence by the Federal Government, and for other purposes.
H.R.8756	Establish the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers Council, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers, and Artificial Intelligence Coordination Boards…	Establishes the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers Council, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers, and Artificial Intelligence Coordination Boards, and for other purposes.
S.4230	Secure A.I. Act of 2024	Streamlines the reporting of AI-related security incidents and risks.
H. R.7532	Federal AI Governance and Transparency Act	Establishes federal AI governance requirements including ensuring responsible management of AI applications and public disclosure of AI system use.
S.4178	Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024	Proposes the creation of new AI testbed programs among agencies and the private sector, as well as create prize competitions which support the integration of AI and emerging technologies such as quantum computing.

 

AI is a bipartisan issue within Congress, garnering much support for legislation to encourage use and mitigate risk. Both the Senate and House AI groups agree that further action on the technology will be a cross-jurisdiction committee effort. With AI finding a middle ground within Congress, there is a good indication that AI legislation may be passed soon enough. An interview with Rep. Don Beyer alludes to the hope of passing 4 to 6 foundational AI bills by the end of the year.