Now that the elections are out of the way, lawmakers are turning their attention to the annual defense authorization bill, a must-pass measure that attracts all types of policy riders.
The main priority for the National Defense Authorization Act, from the tech industry’s point of view, is legislation formally authorizing the AI Safety Institute within the Commerce Department. A few other bills would do that, but the Future of AI Innovation Act in the Senate is the main one.
Little of AISI’s work is regulatory, but its studies of how to measure AI systems’ safety and efficacy would be key to any future policies in the field.
Take it AISI: Nothing is ever guaranteed to make it into the NDAA. AISI authorization does share a few points with measures that tend to move: It’s bipartisan, a priority for industry and has powerful backers, including Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has also said he’d like to start securing U.S. leadership on AI as part of the NDAA. Plus, Schumer has a reason to push the bill this year: President-elect Donald Trump is likely to undo the Biden administration’s AI approach, including AISI, which already exists due to a White House directive.
Not so fast: The Republican sweep gives GOP leaders confidence they can resist whatever they don’t like and put their own stamp on issues later. And House GOP leaders famously don’t love AI initiatives at the moment, or undermining Trump. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the incoming chair of the Commerce panel, is an opponent of AISI too.
China competition: Cantwell’s AISI bill passed the committee as part of a package. Other pieces of that bundle of bills, and their House companions, might tempt leadership, particularly because the measures are about pushing back on China. That’s a rationale that will lie behind much of what happens in AI in the next Congress.
Cantwell’s committee advanced bipartisan bills that would direct the National Science Foundation to award more grants and scholarships to study AI and quantum computing. Another bill would establish public computing resources to facilitate AI research.
Both of the latter bills were key to talks between Cantwell’s committee and the Republican-controlled House Science Committee in October. They’re trying to decide what they want to advance in the lame-duck period. An agreement between the panel chairs doesn’t necessarily mean leadership will take up the bills, however.
What’s already in: There are also a series of AI provisions that made it into the House and Senate NDAA versions. The Senate bill would establish “a pilot program for the development of near-term use cases and demonstrations of AI for national security biotechnology applications.”
Some proposals came close in 2024 but don’t seem NDAA-ready. The Kids Online Safety Act passed the Senate overwhelmingly, but its coalition collapsed in the House. Various approaches to dealing with AI-generated nonconsensual nudes also got traction in the Senate but have lagged in the other chamber.
