Ranking Member Lofgren's Opening Statement for Full Committee Markup of Nine Bills
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is holding a full Committee markup of H.R. 9197, the Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act; H.R. 9194, the Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act; H.R. 9211, the LIFT AI Act; H.R. 9215, the Workforce for AI Trust Act; H.R. 9402, the NSF AI Education Act of 2024; H.R. 9403, the Expanding AI Voices Act; H.R. 5077, the CREATE AI Act; H.R. 9497, the AI Advancement and Reliability Act; and H.R. 9466, the AI Development Practices Act.
Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren's (D-CA) opening statement as prepared for the record is below:
Thank you, Chairman Lucas. We have many bills to get through today, all focused on the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence. AI, broadly speaking, has the potential to, or is already involved in numerous aspects of our lives. The bills we are considering here today address a range of foundational concerns around the technology, from access for small businesses, to workforce, to safety, while recognizing the nuance and complexity of each matter.
The first bill on the roster, the Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act, is led by Mr. Collins and Ms. Stevens and seeks to help small businesses adopt AI tools that suit their needs. It directs NIST to disseminate resources to help small businesses understand what AI technology is, what use cases may be most relevant to them, and how to mitigate risk as they incorporate AI into their operations.
Our next bill is the Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act, introduced by Ms. Caraveo and Mr. McCormick. This bill directs NIST to support the development of best practices for nucleic acid screening. It also directs the development of technical standards for screening of these molecules by a consortium of interested stakeholders.
Moving on to the Literacy in Future Technologies Act, or the “LIFT” Act, brought to us by Mr. Kean and Mr. Amo This bill authorizes NSF to create AI educational tools, curricula, and teacher development opportunities for grades K through 12.
Next is my bill, the Workforce for AI Trust Act, which is cosponsored by Chairman Lucas. I will speak more on this bill when it is called up for consideration.
Then we will consider the NSF Artificial Intelligence Education Act, sponsored by Mr. Fong and Ms. Salinas. This bill directs NSF to create and maintain AI learning initiatives and workforce training programs, including opportunities for students pursuing a focus in AI education. It will also establish Centers of AI Excellence for technical schools, on-the-job training, and career-long AI education.
Next, the field of AI research requires diverse participation in order to make this technology safer and more fair and equitable in both access and impact. To that end, the Expanding AI Voices through Capacity Building Act, led by Ms. Foushee and Chairman Lucas, would ensure that projects and partnerships in the National AI Research ecosystem include historically black colleges and universities, minority serving institutions, and tribal colleges and universities.
The next bill on the roster is “Creating Resources for Every American to Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2023” or the “CREATE AI Act,” which was introduced by my friend and colleague from California Ms. Eshoo, and her bipartisan cochairs on the House AI caucus. I will speak more on this bill when it is called up and I offer my amendment in the nature of a substitute.
The AI Advancement and Reliability Act of 2024 is a bill that I am cosponsoring, so I will speak on it later as well.
The AI Development Practices Act directs NIST to describe methods for effective governance and to create or disseminate voluntary guidance for best practices around the development, assessment, and release of AI systems. This bill is led by the co-chairs of the Bipartisan House Artificial Intelligence Taskforce, Mr. Obernolte and Mr. Lieu.
These are all good bills that reflect the bipartisan nature of this committee. I thank the sponsors of these bills and Chairman Lucas, and I yield back.
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