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Saturday, January 4, 2025

Congress releases AI policy plan

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Twenty-four members of Congress on Wednesday released a report on their work to develop a U.S. vision for responsible AI innovation that includes appropriate guardrails to address current and emerging threats.

Making 66 key findings, lawmakers made 89 recommendations to create a “carefully designed, sustainable policy framework” based on an approach they say balances innovation but can protect American citizens from the potential harms of the widespread apply of artificial intelligence.

Far from being the final word from Congress on AI issues, lawmakers said their findings and recommendations should be viewed as a tool to identify and evaluate future AI policy proposals.

“It is unreasonable to expect Congress to pass legislation this year that could be its final word on artificial intelligence policy,” lawmakers said in a statement. report.

Instead, Congress should adopt “a flexible approach that enables us to respond appropriately in a targeted, achievable manner, using all available evidence and insights.”

They argue that lawmakers must continue to learn about AI to “regularly evaluate the effectiveness of their policies and update them as AI technologies and their impact evolve” if the United States is to lead the development of AI and drive a global vision for public policy on artificial intelligence, they said in the novel plan.

The Artificial Intelligence Task Force, which was established in February, is composed of 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats and is led by co-chairs Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif. In the 253-page report, lawmakers said they met regularly to gather information on AI issues from more than 100 domain experts from industry, government, civil society and academia.

The overarching policy objectives include identifying what’s novel in AI, promoting AI innovation, protecting against AI-related risks and harms, empowering governments with AI, reaffirming a sector-specific regulatory structure, adopting a phased approach and keeping people at the heart artificial intelligence policy, according to the report.

Provides recommendations for government apply of artificial intelligence; federal preemption of state law; data privacy; national security; research, development and standards; civil rights and liberties; education and workforce; intellectual property; content authenticity in open and closed AI systems; energy consumption and network reliability; and petite business and specific sectors – agriculture, healthcare and financial services.

Lawmakers also said they support sector-specific policies for an agile and focused approach to AI policy and the apply of sector-specific regulatory expertise across federal agencies and other parts of government to leverage their existing authorities to respond to the apply of AI in their domains.

“This would enable more informed and effective collaboration between federal agencies and entities using artificial intelligence,” the lawmakers said. “The agency’s experience should continue to be focused on areas where it can be most effective.”

In addition to support for sector-specific regulation of AI, they call for increased federal investment in research that enables innovations in AI hardware, algorithmic efficiency, energy technology development, and energy infrastructure.

Lawmakers said regulators would also benefit from tapping into a federal repository of artificial intelligence resources, such as data and AI-ready computer equipment. As such, they said they are continuing to invest in federal research and development.

“Congress will need to continue federal research and development efforts by supporting artificial intelligence assessments and strengthening U.S. efforts to standardize artificial intelligence,” the lawmakers said.

To protect citizens’ rights, lawmakers recommended equipping sector regulators with “the tools and expertise to address AI-related risks in their fields.”

For the healthcare sector, they acknowledged that AI technologies have the potential to improve many aspects of healthcare research, diagnosis and healthcare delivery.

“Artificial intelligence can quickly analyze large data sets, improve diagnostic accuracy, streamline operations and automate routine tasks, all of which have the potential to improve treatment efficiency and effectiveness and reduce the burden on healthcare workers, freeing up more time for patient care,” the bipartisan said. Artificial Intelligence Task Force.

But the continued evolution of AI capabilities and integration into critical healthcare systems also pose novel policy issues, they warn.

“Some of the most important challenges include data availability and quality, incomplete or inaccurate answers, non-individualized recommendations, decision transparency, data privacy and cybersecurity, interoperability between existing systems and AI, liability for errors made or enabled by AI models, and biased decision making and implementing these models in a way that promotes financial benefits over patient care and safety,” they said.

Their key findings regarding the healthcare sector are as follows:

  • The apply of artificial intelligence in healthcare has the potential to reduce administrative burdens and accelerate drug development and clinical diagnostics.
  • The lack of ubiquitous, uniform medical data standards and algorithms hinders system interoperability and data sharing.

Their recommendations for the healthcare sector are:

  • Encourage the practices necessary to ensure that AI in healthcare is safe and sound, crystal clear and effective.
  • Maintain forceful support for AI-related health care research.
  • Create incentives and guidance to manage the risks associated with AI technologies in health care across a range of deployment settings to support AI adoption and improve privacy, enhance security, and prevent disparate health outcomes.
  • Support the development of accountability standards related to AI issues.
  • Support appropriate payment mechanisms without stifling innovation.

The bipartisan congressional AI plan also includes a number of resources, including a full overview of federal AI research and development efforts, a list from the House Artificial Intelligence Task Force encouraging lawmakers and future congresses to further explore 15 AI opportunities and challenges. artificial intelligence and an overview of the adoption and apply of artificial intelligence in various types of healthcare.

Because rapid progress has the potential to transform the economy and national security, congressional leaders have established a task force to create a policy action plan.

“Developing a bipartisan vision for AI adoption, innovation and management is not an easy but necessary task as we look to the future of AI and ensure that Americans see real benefits from this technology,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said this week.

“Members of the Bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Task Force have worked hard over the past year to produce a report that is serious, sober and substantive,” added Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “I am encouraged by the completion of the report and hope it will be instructive for future informed legislative action.”

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