On May 13,  the House Energy and Commerce Committee (“E&C Committee”) voted on its portion of the budget reconciliation package which includes a major proposal to identify new radio spectrum bands for auction and to restore the FCC’s long-lapsed spectrum auction authority.  The budget reconciliation proposal directs the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) within two years to identify at least 600 megahertz of spectrum between the 1.3 GHz and 10 GHz frequencies for auction.  The proposal also requires the FCC to complete an auction (with its restored auction authority) for at least 200 megahertz within three years, and to auction the remainder of the spectrum within six years from enactment.  This approach of requiring the FCC to identify a minimum of 200 megahertz of spectrum for auction and to complete such auctions in the near term follows the pattern Congress used in the 1990s to jumpstart growth in the wireless industry. 

The spectrum designated for auction would be allocated on an “exclusive, licensed basis for mobile broadband services, fixed broadband services, mobile and fixed broadband services, or a combination thereof.”  Note that the legislation would carve out from auction-eligible spectrum bands the frequencies between 3.1 GHz and 3.45 GHz, and between 5.925 GHz and 7.125 GHz.  The bill also provides that the auction proceeds would cover “110 percent of Federal Relocation or Sharing Costs.”  The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the auction will raise $88 billion of new revenue; this “score” of $88 billion makes it the second-biggest item in the budget reconciliation bill for the E&C Committee behind changes to Medicare/Medicaid.Continue Reading Energy and Commerce Committee Votes on GOP House Spectrum Plan

This is part of an ongoing series of Covington blogs on the AI policies, executive orders, and other actions of the Trump Administration.  This blog describes AI actions taken by the Trump Administration in April 2025, and prior articles in this series are available here.

White House OMB Issues AI Use & Procurement Requirements for Federal Agencies

On April 3, the White House Office of Management & Budget (“OMB”) issued two memoranda on the use and procurement of AI by federal agencies: Memorandum M-25-21 on Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust (“OMB AI Use Memo“) and Memorandum M-25-22 on Driving Efficient Acquisition of Artificial Intelligence in Government (“OMB AI Procurement Memo”).  The two memos partially implement President Trump’s January 23 Executive Order 14179 on “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which, among other things, directs OMB to revise the Biden OMB AI Memos to align with the AI EO’s policy of “sustain[ing] and enhance[ing] America’s global AI dominance.”  The OMB AI Use Memo outlines agency governance and risk management requirements for the use of AI, including AI use case inventories and generative AI policies, and establishes “minimum risk management practices” for “high-impact AI use cases.”  The OMB AI Procurement Memo establishes requirements for agency AI procurement, including preferences for AI “developed and produced in the United States” and contract terms to protect government data and prevent vendor lock-in.  According to the White House’s fact sheet, the OMB Memos, which rescind and replace AI use and procurement memos issued under President Biden’s Executive Order 14110, shift U.S. AI policy to a “forward-leaning, pro-innovation, and pro-competition mindset” that will make agencies “more agile, cost-effective, and efficient.”Continue Reading April 2025 AI Developments Under the Trump Administration

Late last month, the Federal Trade Center (“FTC”) announced that it reached a settlement with a company called Workado to resolve allegations that it made false or misleading representations about the efficacy of its “AI Content Detector” product in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.

According to the FTC’s complaint, Workado advertised its AI Content Detector as trained on a number of mediums, including blog posts, Wikipedia entries, and AI-generated text, when it fact it was trained only on academic abstracts and content generated by ChatGPT and was not adequately fine-tuned or tested.  The complaint alleges that, based on independent testing, the AI Content Detector is less accurate than Workado advertised and is accurate only around half the time when evaluating non-academic AI-generated content.Continue Reading AI Content Detection Company Settles FTC Allegations of Misrepresentations

On April 28, the House of Representatives voted 409-2 to pass the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (“TAKE IT DOWN Act”), which criminalizes the publication of nonconsensual intimate visual depictions (“NCII”), and requires online platforms to establish a notice and takedown process for NCII.  The Act…

Continue Reading U.S. Congress Passes Bill Establishing Notice and Takedown Regime for Publication of Nonconsensual Intimate Visual Depictions

Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) that proposes to clarify existing definitions in the FCC’s foreign ownership rules and codify certain practices regarding the filing requirements for, and the agency’s processing of, foreign ownership petitions (Petitions for Declaratory Ruling, or “PDRs”).  These changes generally seek to provide filers with additional guidance when seeking FCC approval for complex foreign ownership structures and include several updates that, if adopted, would modify the standard filing practices for foreign ownership-related PDRs.

The FCC’s filing requirements for approval of foreign ownership in certain FCC licensees are nuanced and typically result in a challenging filing process, particularly when the proposed ownership structure of a licensee is complex.  The following is a high-level summary of the FCC’s current foreign ownership rules and filing requirements and what the NPRM proposes to change.Continue Reading FCC Proposes Changes to Foreign Ownership Rules and Related Filings Processes

On 24 April 2025, Ofcom published a statement on the protection of children online (“Statement”). The Statement includes Ofcom’s final Children’s Risk Assessment Guidance (“Guidance”). Publication of the Guidance triggers the deadline for service providers regulated by the Online Safety Act 2023 (“OSA”) to complete their first “children’s risk assessment” (“CRA”)—specifically, 24 July 2025.  The Statement also confirms that the draft Protection of Children Codes of Practice for user-to-user and search services (“Codes”) have been laid before Parliament. Subject to completion of the Parliamentary process, providers must comply with the OSA’s “safety duties protecting children” from 25 July 2025.

Who do the Codes and Guidance apply to?

The Codes and Guidance apply to providers of “user-to-user” and “search” services that are “likely to be accessed by children”, which is determined based on a test set out in the OSA. In-scope providers were required to have completed an assessment—known as a “children’s access assessment”— by 16 April 2025 to determine if their services satisfy this test.Continue Reading Ofcom publishes statement on the protection of children online

This quarterly update highlights key legislative, regulatory, and litigation developments in the first quarter of 2025 related to artificial intelligence (“AI”), connected and automated vehicles (“CAVs”), and cryptocurrencies and blockchain. 

I. Artificial Intelligence

A. Federal Legislative Developments

In the first quarter, members of Congress introduced several AI bills addressing national security, including bills that would encourage the use of AI for border security and drug enforcement purposes.  Other AI legislative proposes focused on workforce skills, international investment in critical industries, U.S. AI supply chain resilience, and AI-enabled fraud.  Notably, members of Congress from both parties advanced legislation to regulate AI deepfakes and codify the National AI Research Resource, as discussed below.

  • CREATE AI Act:  In March, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) re-introduced the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence (“CREATE AI”) Act (H.R. 2385), following its introduction and near passage in the Senate last year.  The CREATE AI Act would codify the National AI Research Resource (“NAIRR”), with the goal of advancing AI development and innovation by offering AI computational resources, common datasets and repositories, educational tools and services, and AI testbeds to individuals, private entities, and federal agencies.  The CREATE AI Act builds on the work of the NAIRR Task Force, established by the National AI Initiative Act of 2020, which issued a final report in January 2023 recommending the establishment of NAIRR.

Continue Reading U.S. Tech Legislative & Regulatory Update – First Quarter 2025

This is part of an ongoing series of Covington blogs on the AI policies, executive orders, and other actions of the Trump Administration.  This blog describes AI actions taken by the Trump Administration in March 2025, and prior articles in this series are available here.

White House Receives Public Comments on AI Action Plan

On March 15, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development National Coordination Office within the National Science Foundation closed the comment period for public input on the White House’s AI Action Plan, following their issuance of a Request for Information (“RFI”) on the AI Action Plan on February 6.  As required by President Trump’s AI EO, the RFI called on stakeholders to submit comments on the highest priority policy actions that should be in the new AI Action Plan, centered around 20 broad and non-exclusive topics for potential input, including data centers, data privacy and security, technical and safety standards, intellectual property, and procurement, to inform an AI Action Plan to achieve the AI EO’s policy of “sustain[ing] and enhance[ing] America’s global AI dominance.”

The RFI resulted in 8,755 submitted comments, including submissions from nonprofit organizations, think tanks, trade associations, industry groups, academia, and AI companies.  The final AI Action Plan is expected by July of 2025.

NIST Launches New AI Standards InitiativesContinue Reading March 2025 AI Developments Under the Trump Administration

In a new post on Cov Africa, our colleagues discuss the release of Kenya’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2025–2030), a landmark document on the continent that sets out a government-led vision for ethical, inclusive, and innovation-driven AI adoption.

Continue Reading Kenya’s AI Strategy 2025–2030: Signals for Global Companies Operating in Africa