WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Maria Cantwell, Todd Young, and Marsha Blackburn introduced the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act. The legislation authorizes the U.S. AI Safety Institute to take steps to accelerate groundbreaking AI innovation, develop governance standards, and promote partnerships between government, business, and academia to advance AI research.
“Artificial intelligence has enormous potential, but it’s up to us to make sure it’s harnessed for responsible innovation,” said Senator Hickenlooper. “Our bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act empowers the U.S. AI Safety Institute to develop the research, standards, and partnerships we need without compromising our position at the forefront of this technology.”
The Future of AI Innovation Act would:
- Authorize the NIST AI Safety Institute to develop AI standards to promote long-term innovation in AI.
- Create new AI testbeds through public-private partnerships to evaluate AI models and make discoveries by using AI integrated with emerging technologies, such as quantum hybrid computing and robotics.
- Establish national competitions to spur private sector AI solutions and innovation. The grand challenges would prioritize finding AI solutions through the integration of advanced AI technology and emerging technologies like quantum computing.
- Accelerate AI innovation by directing federal science agencies to share curated datasets with the public to accelerate new advancements in AI applications.
- Form an international coalition with U.S. allies to cooperate on AI standards, research, and development.
This legislation comes after Hickenlooper proposed AI auditing standards and laid out a framework on AI regulation to ensure transparency and user literacy, protect consumer data, and build an international coalition. In October, he chaired a hearing of the Senate HELP Committee’s Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety to explore how employers and workers are preparing for the widespread integration of AI with our workforce. In September, Hickenlooper chaired a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security to discuss how to increase transparency in AI for consumers, identify uses of AI that are beneficial or “high-risk,” and evaluate the potential impact of policies designed to increase trustworthiness in the transformational technology.
Hickenlooper also recently introduced the bipartisan AI Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act (ARIA), which establishes several transparency measures for AI developers and deployers.
Read the full text of the bill HERE.
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