Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senators Todd Young (R-IN), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently introduced the Future of AI Innovation Act, a legislative package that addresses key bipartisan priorities to promote AI safety, standardization, and access.  The bill would also advance U.S. leadership in AI by facilitating R&D and creating testbeds for AI systems.

First, the bill would codify the AI Safety Institute at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a body established last year by the Commerce Department to develop voluntary safety standards for AI use and establish a framework for educating businesses and the public about the technology.  By funding new research; encouraging collaboration among NIST, the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and public-private partnerships; and directing the development and adoption of “technology-neutral voluntary standards,” the bill would promote stakeholder involvement in the development of best practices for AI.

Another way the bill would advance AI innovation and safety is by establishing public testbeds through NIST.  These testbeds would allow government agencies, including DOE and NSF, as well as the private sector to collaborate on AI research and safety testing.  The bill would further authorize a joint NIST-DOE testbed to develop new materials for advanced manufacturing involving AI, including AI integrated with technologies such as quantum computing.

Furthermore, the bill would take steps toward making AI training and evaluation data publicly available by directing the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and other agencies to prioritize which government datasets to release and to fund the further development and improvement of such datasets.  This provision aims to accelerate AI R&D among small- and medium-scale developers by expanding access to AI training resources.

Finally, the bill seeks to facilitate AI R&D in the United States, including in collaboration with allies.  The bill would create funding incentives, including prize competitions, for private researchers and engineers to develop innovative AI applications and integrate AI with other critical and emerging technologies.  The bill would also promote international cooperation among U.S. allies on AI R&D and standards development to support interoperability and security across AI platforms, as recommended by the National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology.

Notably, the Future of AI Innovation Act focuses on innovation, not regulation, in AI.  However, the bill is sponsored by a bipartisan team that includes a powerful committee chair and a Republican member of Leader Schumer’s AI task force.  Although the bill is the latest AI proposal in a Congress that has already held dozens of hearings and introduced countless bills on a range of AI-related topics, it is one of only a handful to focus on private AI innovation rather than regulation or federal government AI use.  While it is clear that lawmakers remain interested in passing major AI legislation by year’s end, it is less certain whether members of Congress will align on the details of significant AI legislation in the waning months of this term.