Lame Duck AI Legislation Gets Some Life
“Congressional leaders in the House and Senate are privately negotiating a deal to address increasing concerns about artificial intelligence, and they’re hoping to move a bill in the lame-duck period,” reported POLITICO on October 18. The discussions reportedly involve Congress’s top four leaders: Senators Schumer and McConnell and Representatives Johnson and Jeffries.
This would be a dramatic, swift, and unexpected development in this session of Congress and would have to occur after the election and before Christmas, a tight period when Congress must also address the budget and other pressing matters.
In addition to political divisions, by party and chamber, there are many other obstacles, including the following:
–A House bipartisan task force on AI, announced in February, has not issued a promised comprehensive report “that will include guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations and bipartisan policy proposals” and which is to be “developed in consultation with committees of jurisdiction.”
–Representative Ami Bera (D-CA), a member of the task force, said on October 22 that the report is expected after the election, which provides little time for members to review it and develop legislative language.
–House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, following a meeting with House Republicans on the AI task force, told Punchbowl News on June 13 that Republicans oppose “heavy regulations and billions of dollars of government money to do what’s already being done in the private sector.”
–The impact of the outcome of the Presidential election, and potential challenges to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from office are difficult variables to predict.
On September 17, Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA), who chairs the House AI Task Force, said that top legislative priorities are to make permanent the National Science Foundation’s National AI Research Resource pilot program, making clear the U.S. is to “provide leadership in the setting of international standards on AI,” and funding the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to continue its work on AI testing and evaluation standards.
There is also strong support for making permanent NIST’s AI Safety Institute. Related bipartisan measures have passed a House and a Senate committee.
While it would be easier for these rather noncontroversial measures to pass both chambers, the four top leaders of Congress seem to have more in mind, though we do not know the specifics at this point. POLITICO also reported that “the potential AI package would be tacked onto other must-pass legislation, like government funding, or the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act.”
Whatever steps Congress takes on AI, it is important to be focused, deliberate, and get it right, as unintended consequences could hamper AI’s promise and the vast innovations taking place.