Tech Bills of the Week: Expanding AI education via NSF; Commerce public awareness campaign; and more

Encouraging diversity in AI workforce training

Reps. Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, teamed up to introduce the Expanding AI Voices Act, a new bill that codifies the National Science Foundation’s ExpandAI program. The NSF initiative increases access to artificial intelligence education and workforce development.

The bill accomplishes this by:

• Expanding access to minority-serving Institutions, rural universities and first-generation students.
• Linking ExpandAI with eligible awardees and participants in the NSF’s National AI Research Institutes.
• Incorporating activities that integrate “ethical and responsible practices and principles” into AI education and related disciplines. 

In a press release, Foushee said “as Artificial Intelligence rapidly transforms our economy and society, Congress must ensure that working Americans and communities across the country can participate in, and benefit from the jobs and opportunity that AI creates.”

Commerce asked to launch a PSA on AI

Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., formally filed the Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act on Jan. 20. The lawmakers introduced the measure earlier this month.

The bill asks the Commerce secretary to design and execute a public awareness campaign to educate Americans about the risks and benefits of AI usage in personal and professional arenas. 

The public awareness campaign would feature information on: 

• Workforce opportunities, including within the federal government, for professionals with AI experience.
• The rights of individuals related to AI.
• Best practices for identifying AI-generated content.
• The prevalence of AI in daily life. 

Mandatory age verification for chatbots

Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., introduced a bill on Thursday that requires artificial intelligence chatbots to implement age verification measures and establish protections for minor users.

It was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Nextgov/FCW reached out to Lawler’s office and did not receive bill materials before publishing. 

AI in regulation reviews

Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, introduced a bill on Thursday that would require the use of AI to review agency regulations.

The measure calls for the Office of Management and Budget to develop a yearly process for identifying “redundant or outdated regulations” in the Code of Federal Regulations using AI. This tool would be used to recommend regulations for removal, and the identified directives would be referred to the applicable agencies to make the final decisions.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, introduced a companion bill in the Senate last March. The new measure was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 

“This bill would give government a tool that helps them reduce waste and save time — and to give job creators and taxpayers a look at just how much Washington could do to get out of their way and siphon less money from their pockets,” Husted said in a Friday press release.

Export control and AI small business bill advance out of committee

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly passed the Artificial Intelligence Oversight of Verified Exports and Restrictions on Weaponizable Advanced Technology to Covered High-Risk Actors, or the AI OVERWATCH Act.

The AI OVERWATCH Act is an export control bill that requires licenses for the export, reexport or domestic transfer of select high-performance AI semiconductors to countries of concern in a bid to protect U.S. technology and access to advanced chips.

“The passage of this legislation out of committee is a critical step toward protecting America’s technological edge,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., a co-sponsor of the legislation. “Advanced AI chips are foundational to economic growth and military power, and Congress has a responsibility to ensure they are not fueling the Chinese Communist Party’s military modernization or surveillance state. We must protect our world class innovation and the security of the American people.”

The AI for Main Street Act also passed the House on Tuesday evening in a 395-14 vote. 

This bill updates the Small Business Act to require the network of small business development centers to help address concerns related to using and training AI. 

AI ad concerns

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., penned a letter to AI industry leaders on Thursday to ask for more details on how companies will protect users from exploitation if they run ads on their chatbot services. 

Following the news that OpenAI will run ads on its ChatGPT service, Markey asked Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc. and Google; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Even Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc.; and Elon Musk, CEO of xAI, to provide him with information about their user privacy plans.

Some of the questions Markey asks specifically to OpenAI include more information on the process that will determine which users see select ads; if OpenAI will ensure no ads appear during sensitive conversations; and if OpenAI will collect data from the ad experience during a ChatGPT session.

The other companies received questions on if they plan to introduce a similar ad model to their chatbot products and how they plan to control for user privacy. 

“As chatbots become spaces where users share personal thoughts, health questions, family issues, and other sensitive information, companies must not repurpose those exchanges to inform advertising or steer users toward commercial outcomes,” Markey said in a release. “Any effort to leverage conversational data for commercial purposes would represent a profound intrusion on privacy and undermine the trust users place in these AI chatbots.”