105 S4178 RS: Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024
U.S. Senate
2024-12-18
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
II
Calendar No. 725
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4178
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 18, 2024
Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Mr. Young, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Luján, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Rounds, and Mr. Schumer) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
December 18 (legislative day, December 16), 2024
Reported by Ms. Cantwell, with an amendment
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic
A BILL
To establish artificial intelligence standards, metrics, and evaluation tools, to support artificial intelligence research, development, and capacity building activities, to promote innovation in the artificial intelligence industry by ensuring companies of all sizes can succeed and thrive, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title; table of contents
(a)

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024”.
(b)

Table of contents
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I—Voluntary artificial intelligence standards, metrics, evaluation tools, testbeds, and international cooperation
Subtitle A—Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute and testbeds
Sec. 101. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
Sec. 102. Program on artificial intelligence testbeds.
Sec. 103. National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Energy testbed to identify, test, and synthesize new materials.
Sec. 104. National Science Foundation and Department of Energy collaboration to make scientific discoveries through the use of artificial intelligence.
Sec. 105. Progress report.
Subtitle B—International cooperation
Sec. 111. International coalition on innovation, development, and harmonization of standards with respect to artificial intelligence.
Sec. 112. Requirement to support bilateral and multilateral artificial intelligence research collaborations.
Subtitle C—Identifying regulatory barriers to innovation
Sec. 121. Comptroller General of the United States identification of risks and obstacles relating to artificial intelligence and Federal agencies.
TITLE II—Artificial intelligence research, development, capacity building activities
Sec. 201. Public data for artificial intelligence systems.
Sec. 202. Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence.
2.

Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that policies governing artificial intelligence should maximize the potential and development of artificial intelligence to benefit all private and public stakeholders.
3.

Definitions
In this Act:
(1)

Agency
The term agency has the meaning given such term in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code, except such term shall include an independent regulatory agency, as defined in such section.
(2)

Artificial intelligence
The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given such term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401).
(3)

Artificial intelligence blue-teaming
The term artificial intelligence blue-teaming means an effort to conduct operational network vulnerability evaluations and provide mitigation techniques to entities who have a need for an independent technical review of the network security posture of an artificial intelligence system.
(4)

Artificial intelligence model
The term artificial intelligence model means a component of an artificial intelligence system that is a model—
(A)
derived using mathematical, computational, statistical, or machine-learning techniques; and
(B)
used as part of an artificial intelligence system to produce outputs from a given set of inputs.
(5)

Artificial intelligence red-teaming
The term artificial intelligence red-teaming means structured adversarial testing efforts of an artificial intelligence system to identify risks, flaws, and vulnerabilities of the artificial intelligence system, such as harmful outputs from the system, unforeseen or undesirable system behaviors, limitations, or potential risks associated with the misuse of the system.
(6)

Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework
The term Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework means the most recently updated version of the framework developed and updated pursuant to section 22A(c) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278h–1(c)).
(7)

Artificial intelligence system
The term artificial intelligence system has the meaning given such term in section 7223 of the Advancing American AI Act (40 U.S.C. 11301 note).
(8)

Critical infrastructure
The term critical infrastructure has the meaning given such term in section 1016(e) of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
(9)

Federal laboratory
The term Federal laboratory has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703).
(10)

Foundation model
The term foundation model means an artificial intelligence model trained on broad data at scale and is adaptable to a wide range of downstream tasks.
(11)

Generative artificial intelligence
The term generative artificial intelligence means the class of artificial intelligence models that utilize the structure and characteristics of input data in order to generate outputs in the form of derived synthetic content. Such derived synthetic content can include images, videos, audio, text, software, code, and other digital content.
(12)

National Laboratory
The term National Laboratory has the meaning given such term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
(13)

Synthetic content
The term synthetic content means information, such as images, videos, audio clips, and text, that has been significantly modified or generated by algorithms, including by artificial intelligence.
(14)

Testbed
The term testbed means a facility or mechanism equipped for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of tools and technologies, including artificial intelligence systems, to help evaluate the functionality, trustworthiness, usability, and performance of those tools or technologies.
(15)

TEVV
The term TEVV means methodologies, metrics, techniques, and tasks for testing, evaluating, verifying, and validating artificial intelligence systems or components.
(16)

Watermarking
The term watermarking means the act of embedding information that is intended to be difficult to remove, into outputs generated by artificial intelligence, including outputs such as text, images, audio, videos, software code, or any other digital content or data, for the purposes of verifying the authenticity of the output or the identity or characteristics of its provenance, modifications, or conveyance.
I

Voluntary artificial intelligence standards, metrics, evaluation tools, testbeds, and international cooperation
A

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute and testbeds
101.

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute
(a)

Establishment of Institute
(1)

In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology (in this section referred to as the “Under Secretary”) shall establish an institute on artificial intelligence.
(2)

Designation
The institute established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the “Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute” (in this section referred to as the “Institute”).
(3)

Mission
The mission of the Institute is as follows:
(A)
To assist the private sector and agencies in developing voluntary best practices for the robust assessment of artificial intelligence systems.
(B)
To provide technical assistance for the adoption and use of artificial intelligence across the Federal Government to improve the quality of government services.
(C)
To develop guidelines, methodologies, and best practices to promote—
(i)
development and adoption of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards or industry standards;
(ii)
long-term advancements in artificial intelligence technologies; and
(iii)
innovation in the artificial intelligence industry by ensuring that companies of all sizes can succeed and thrive.
(b)

Director
The Under Secretary shall appoint a director of the Institute, who shall be known as the “Director of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute” (in this section referred to as the “Director”) and report directly to the Under Secretary.
(c)

Staff and authorities
(1)

Staff
The Director may hire such full-time employees as the Director considers appropriate to assist the Director in carrying out the functions of the Institute.
(2)

Use of authority to hire critical technical experts
In addition to making appointments under paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Director, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce, may make appointments of scientific, engineering, and professional personnel, and fix their basic pay, under subsection (b) of section 6 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 275) to hire critical technical experts.
(3)

Expansion of authority to hire critical technical experts
Such subsection is amended, in the second sentence, by striking “15” and inserting “30”.
(4)

Modification of sunset
Subsection (c) of such section is amended by striking “the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this section” and inserting “December 30, 2035”.
(5)

Agreements
The Director may enter into such agreements, including contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions, as the Director considers necessary to carry out the functions of the Institute and on such terms as the Under Secretary considers appropriate.
(d)

Consultation and coordination
In establishing the Institute, the Under Secretary shall—
(1)
coordinate with—
(A)
the Secretary of Energy;
(B)
the Secretary of Homeland Security;
(C)
the Secretary of Defense;
(D)
the Director of the National Science Foundation; and
(E)
the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and
(2)
consult with the heads of such other Federal agencies as the Under Secretary considers appropriate.
(e)

Functions
The functions of the Institute, which the Institute shall carry out in coordination with the laboratories of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, are as follows:
(1)

Research, evaluation, testing, and standards
The following functions relating to research, evaluation, testing, and standards:
(A)
Conducting measurement research into system and model safety, validity and reliability, security, capabilities and limitations, explainability, interpretability, and privacy.
(B)
Working with the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, public-private partnerships, including the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium established under subsection (f), and other private sector organizations to develop testing environments and perform regular benchmarking and capability evaluations, including artificial intelligence red-teaming as the Director considers appropriate.
(C)
Working with consensus-based, open, and transparent standards development organizations (SDOs) and relevant industry, Federal laboratories, civil society, and academic institutions to advance development and adoption of clear, implementable, technically sound, and technology-neutral voluntary standards and guidelines that incorporate appropriate variations in approach depending on the size of the entity, the potential risks and potential benefits of the artificial intelligence system, and the role of the entity (such as developer, deployer, or user) relating to artificial intelligence systems.
(D)
Building upon the Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework to incorporate guidelines on generative artificial intelligence systems.
(E)
Developing a companion resource to the Secure Software Development Framework to incorporate secure development practices for generative artificial intelligence and for foundation models.
(F)
Developing and publishing cybersecurity tools, methodologies, best practices, voluntary guidelines, and other supporting information to assist persons who maintain systems used to create or train artificial intelligence models to discover and mitigate vulnerabilities and attacks.
(G)
Coordinating or developing guidelines, metrics, benchmarks, and methodologies for evaluating artificial intelligence systems, including the following:
(i)
Cataloging existing artificial intelligence metrics, benchmarks, and evaluation methodologies used in industry and academia.
(ii)
Testing and validating the efficacy of existing metrics, benchmarks, and evaluations, as well as TEVV tools and products.
(iii)
Funding and facilitating research and other activities in a transparent manner, including at institutions of higher education and other nonprofit and private sector partners, to evaluate, develop, or improve TEVV capabilities, with rigorous scientific merit, for artificial intelligence systems.
(iv)
Evaluating foundation models for their potential effect in downstream systems, such as when retrained or fine-tuned.
(H)
Coordinating with counterpart institutions of international partners and allies to promote global interoperability in the development of research, evaluation, testing, and standards relating to artificial intelligence.
(I)
Developing tools, methodologies, best practices, and voluntary guidelines for identifying vulnerabilities in foundation models.
(J)
Developing tools, methodologies, best practices, and voluntary guidelines for relevant agencies to track incidents resulting in harm caused by artificial intelligence systems.
(2)

Implementation
The following functions relating to implementation:
(A)
Using publicly available and voluntarily provided information, conducting evaluations to assess the impacts of artificial intelligence systems, and developing guidelines and practices for safe development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence technology.
(B)
Aligning capability evaluation and red-teaming guidelines and benchmarks, sharing best practices, and coordinating on building testbeds and test environments with allies of the United States and international partners and allies.
(C)
Coordinating vulnerability and incident data sharing with international partners and allies.
(D)
Integrating appropriate testing capabilities and infrastructure for testing of models and systems.
(E)
Establishing blue-teaming capabilities to develop mitigation approaches and partner with industry to address risks and negative impacts.
(F)
Developing voluntary guidelines on—
(i)
detecting synthetic content, authenticating content and tracking of the provenance of content, labeling original and synthetic content, such as by watermarking, and evaluating software and systems relating to detection and labeling of synthetic content;
(ii)
ensuring artificial intelligence systems do not violate privacy rights or other rights; and
(iii)
transparency documentation of artificial intelligence datasets and artificial intelligence models.
(G)
Coordinating with relevant agencies to develop or support, as the heads of the agencies determine appropriate, sector- and application-specific profiles of the Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework for different use cases, integrating end-user experience and on-going development work into a continuously evolving toolkit.
(3)

Operations and engagement
The following functions relating to operations and engagement:
(A)
Managing the work of the Institute, developing internal processes, and ensuring that the Institute meets applicable goals and targets.
(B)
Engaging with the private sector to promote innovation and competitiveness.
(C)
Engaging with international standards organizations, multilateral organizations, and similar institutes among allies and partners.
(f)

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium
(1)

Establishment
(A)

In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall establish a consortium of stakeholders from academic or research communities, Federal laboratories, private industry, including companies of all sizes with different roles in the use of artificial intelligence systems, including developers, deployers, and users, and civil society with expertise in matters relating to artificial intelligence to support the Institute in carrying out the functions set forth under subsection (e).
(B)

Designation
The consortium established pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be known as the “Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium”.
(2)

Consultation
The Under Secretary, acting through the Director, shall consult with the consortium established under this subsection not less frequently than quarterly.
(3)

Report to Congress
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a report summarizing the contributions of the members of the consortium established under this subsection in support the efforts of the Institute.
(g)

Artificial intelligence system testing
In carrying out the Institute functions required by subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall support and contribute to the development of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards for testing artificial intelligence system components, including, as the Under Secretary considers appropriate, the following:
(1)
Physical infrastructure for training or developing artificial intelligence models and systems, including cloud infrastructure.
(2)
Physical infrastructure for operating artificial intelligence systems, including cloud infrastructure.
(3)
Data for training artificial intelligence models.
(4)
Data for evaluating the functionality and trustworthiness of trained artificial intelligence models and systems.
(5)
Trained or partially trained artificial intelligence models and any resulting software systems or products.
(h)

Gifts
(1)

Authority
The Director may seek, accept, hold, administer, and use gifts from public and private sources whenever the Director determines it would be in the interest of the United States to do so.
(2)

Regulations
The Director, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, shall ensure that authority under this subsection is exercised consistent with all relevant ethical constraints and principles, including—
(A)
the avoidance of any prohibited conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety; and
(B)
a prohibition against the acceptance of a gift from a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government.
(i)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to provide the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology any enforcement authority that was not in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act.
102.

Program on artificial intelligence testbeds
(a)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Appropriate committees of Congress
The term appropriate committees of Congress means—
(A)
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and
(B)
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives.
(2)

Director
The term Director means the Director of the National Science Foundation.
(3)

Institute
The term Institute means the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute established by section 101.
(4)

Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
(5)

Under Secretary
The term Under Secretary means the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology.
(b)

Program required
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall, in coordination with the Secretary and the Director, establish and commence carrying out a testbed program to encourage collaboration and support partnerships between the National Laboratories, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program established by the Director of the National Science Foundation, or any successor program, and public and private sector entities, including companies of all sizes, to conduct research and development, tests, evaluations, and risk assessments of artificial intelligence systems, including measurement methodologies developed by the Institute.
(c)

Activities
In carrying out this program, the Under Secretary shall, in coordination with the Secretary—
(1)
use the advanced computing resources, testbeds, and expertise of the National Laboratories, the Institute, the National Science Foundation, and private sector entities to run tests and evaluations on the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence systems;
(2)
use existing solutions to the maximum extent practicable;
(3)
develop automated and reproducible tests, evaluations, and risk assessments for artificial intelligence systems to the extent that is practicable;
(4)
assess the computational resources necessary to run tests, evaluations, and risk assessments of artificial intelligence systems;
(5)
research methods to effectively minimize the computational resources needed to run tests, evaluations, and risk assessments of artificial intelligence systems;
(6)
consider developing tests, evaluations, and risk assessments for artificial intelligence systems that are designed for high-, medium-, and low-computational intensity; and
(7)
prioritize identifying and evaluating scenarios in which the artificial intelligence systems tested or evaluated by a testbed could be deployed in a way that poses security risks, and either establishing classified testbeds, or utilizing existing classified testbeds, at the National Laboratories if necessary, including with respect to—
(A)
autonomous offensive cyber capabilities;
(B)
cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the artificial intelligence software ecosystem and beyond;
(C)
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, critical infrastructure, and energy-security threats or hazards; and
(D)
such other capabilities as the Under Secretary determines necessary.
(d)

Consideration given
In carrying out the activities required by subsection (c), the Under Secretary shall, in coordination with the Secretary, take under consideration the applicability of any tests, evaluations, and risk assessments to artificial intelligence systems trained using primarily biological sequence data, including those systems used for gene synthesis.
(e)

Metrics
The Under Secretary, in collaboration with the Secretary, shall develop metrics—
(1)
to assess the effectiveness of the program in encouraging collaboration and supporting partnerships as described in subsection (b); and
(2)
to assess the impact of the program on public and private sector integration and use of artificial intelligence systems.
(f)

Use of existing program
In carrying out the program required by subsection (a), the Under Secretary may, in collaboration with the Secretary and the Director, use a program that was in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(g)

Evaluation and findings
Not later than 3 years after the start of this program, the Under Secretary shall, in collaboration with the Secretary—
(1)
evaluate the success of the program in encouraging collaboration and supporting partnerships as described in subsection (b), using the metrics developed pursuant to subsection (e);
(2)
evaluate the success of the program in encouraging public and private sector integration and use of artificial intelligence systems by using the metrics developed pursuant to subsection (e); and
(3)
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress the evaluation supported pursuant to paragraph (1) and the findings of the Under Secretary, the Secretary, and the Director with respect to the testbed program.
(h)

Consultation
In carrying out subsection (b), the Under Secretary shall consult, as the Under Secretary considers appropriate, with the following:
(1)
Industry, including private artificial intelligence laboratories, companies of all sizes, and representatives from the United States financial sector.
(2)
Academia and institutions of higher education.
(3)
Civil society.
(4)
Third-party evaluators.
(i)

Establishment of foundation models test program
In carrying out the program under subsection (b), the Under Secretary shall, acting through the Director of the Institute and in coordination with the Secretary of Energy, carry out a test program to provide vendors of foundation models the opportunity to voluntarily test foundation models across a range of modalities, such as models that ingest and output text, images, audio, video, software code, and mixed modalities, relative to the Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework, by—
(1)
conducting research and regular testing to improve and benchmark the accuracy, efficacy, and bias of foundation models;
(2)
conducting research to identify key capabilities, limitations, and unexpected behaviors of foundation models;
(3)
identifying and evaluating scenarios in which these models could pose risks;
(4)
establishing reference use cases for foundation models and performance criteria for assessing each use case, including accuracy, efficacy, and bias metrics;
(5)
enabling developers and deployers of foundation models to evaluate such systems for risks, incidents, and vulnerabilities if deployed in such use cases;
(6)
coordinating public evaluations, which may include prizes and challenges, to evaluate foundation models; and
(7)
as the Under Secretary and the Secretary consider appropriate, producing public-facing reports of the findings from such testing for a general audience.
(j)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a person to disclose any information, including information—
(1)
relating to a trade secret or other protected intellectual property right;
(2)
that is confidential business information; or
(3)
that is privileged.
103.

National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Energy testbed to identify, test, and synthesize new materials
(a)

Testbed authorized
The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Secretary of Energy shall jointly establish a testbed to identify, test, and synthesize new materials to advance materials science and to support advanced manufacturing for the benefit of the United States economy through the use of artificial intelligence, autonomous laboratories, and artificial intelligence integrated with emerging technologies, such as quantum hybrid computing and robotics.
(b)

Support for accelerated technologies
The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy shall ensure that technologies accelerated using the testbed established pursuant to subsection (a) are supported by advanced algorithms and models, uncertainty quantification, and software and workforce development tools to produce benchmark data, model comparison tools, and best practices guides.
(c)

Public-Private partnerships
In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy shall, in consultation with industry, civil society, and academia, enter into such public-private partnerships as the Secretaries jointly determine appropriate.
(d)

Resources
In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretaries may use resources from National Laboratories and the private sector.
104.

National Science Foundation and Department of Energy collaboration to make scientific discoveries through the use of artificial intelligence
(a)

In general
The Director of the National Science Foundation (referred to in this section as the “Director”) and the Secretary of Energy (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall collaborate to support new translational scientific discoveries and advancements for the benefit of the economy of the United States through the use of artificial intelligence, including artificial intelligence integrated with emerging technologies, such as quantum hybrid computing and robotics.
(b)

Public-Private partnerships
In carrying out subsection (a), the Director and the Secretary shall enter into such public-private partnerships as the Director and the Secretary jointly determine appropriate.
(c)

Resources
In carrying out subsection (a), the Director and the Secretary may accept and use resources from the National Laboratories, resources from the private sector, and academic resources.
105.

Progress report
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute shall, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy, submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this subtitle.
B

International cooperation
111.

International coalition on innovation, development, and harmonization of standards with respect to artificial intelligence
(a)

In general
The Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of State, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (in this section referred to as the “Director”), in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies, shall jointly seek to form an alliance or coalition with like-minded governments of foreign countries—
(1)
to cooperate on approaches to innovation and advancements in artificial intelligence and ecosystems for artificial intelligence;
(2)
to coordinate on development and use of interoperable international standards or harmonization of standards with respect to artificial intelligence;
(3)
to promote adoption of common artificial intelligence standards;
(4)
to develop the government-to-government infrastructure needed to facilitate coordination of coherent global application of artificial intelligence safety standards, including, where appropriate, putting in place agreements for information sharing between governments; and
(5)
to involve private-sector stakeholders from partner countries to help inform coalition partners on recent developments in artificial intelligence and associated standards development.
(b)

Criteria for participation
In forming an alliance or coalition of like-minded governments of foreign countries under subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of State, and the Director, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies, shall jointly establish technology trust criteria—
(1)
to ensure all participating countries that have a high level of scientific and technological advancement;
(2)
to ensure all participating countries commit to using open international standards; and
(3)
to support the governance principles for international standards as detailed in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, done at Geneva April 12, 1979, on international standards, such as transparency, openness, and consensus-based decision-making.
(c)

Consultation on innovation and advancements in artificial intelligence
In forming an alliance or coalition under subsection (a), the Director, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of State shall consult with the Secretary of Energy and the Director of the National Science Foundation on approaches to innovation and advancements in artificial intelligence.
(d)

Security and protection of intellectual property
The Director, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of State shall jointly ensure that an alliance or coalition formed under subsection (a) is only formed with countries that—
(1)
have in place sufficient intellectual property protections, safety standards, and risk management approaches relevant to innovation and artificial intelligence; and
(2)
develop and coordinate research security measures, export controls, and intellectual property protections relevant to innovation, development, and standard-setting relating to artificial intelligence.
(e)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit anyone from participating in other international standards bodies.
112.

Requirement to support bilateral and multilateral artificial intelligence research collaborations
(a)

In general
The Director of the National Science Foundation shall support bilateral and multilateral collaborations to facilitate innovation in research and development of artificial intelligence.
(b)

Alignment with priorities
The Director shall ensure that collaborations supported under subsection (a) align with the priorities of the Foundation and United States research community and have the potential to benefit United States prosperity, security, health, and well-being.
(c)

Requirements
The Director shall ensure that collaborations supported under subsection (a)—
(1)
support innovation and advancement in research on the development and use of artificial intelligence;
(2)
facilitate international collaboration on innovation and advancement in artificial intelligence research and development, including data sharing, expertise, and resources; and
(3)
leverage existing National Science Foundation programs, such as the National Science Foundation-supported National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes and Global Centers programs.
(d)

Coordination of security measures and export controls
When entering into agreements in order to support collaborations pursuant to subsection (a) , the Director shall ensure that participating countries have developed and coordinated security measures and export controls to protect intellectual property and research and development.
C

Identifying regulatory barriers to innovation
121.

Comptroller General of the United States identification of risks and obstacles relating to artificial intelligence and Federal agencies
(a)

Report required
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on regulatory impediments to innovation in artificial intelligence systems.
(b)

Contents
The report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1)
Significant examples of Federal statutes and regulations that directly affect the innovation of artificial intelligence systems, including the ability of companies of all sizes to compete in artificial intelligence, which should also account for the effect of voluntary standards and best practices developed by the Federal Government.
(2)
An assessment of challenges that Federal agencies face in the enforcement of provisions of law identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3)
An evaluation of the progress in government adoption of artificial intelligence and use of artificial intelligence to improve the quality of government services.
(4)
Based on the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to paragraphs (1) through (4), such recommendations as the Comptroller General may have for legislative or administrative action to increase the rate of innovation in artificial intelligence systems.
II

Artificial intelligence research, development, capacity building activities
201.

Public data for artificial intelligence systems
(a)

List of priorities
(1)

In general
To expedite the development of artificial intelligence systems in the United States, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall, acting through the National Science and Technology Council and the Interagency Committee established or designated pursuant to section 5103 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9413), develop a list of priorities for Federal investment in creating or improving curated, publicly available Federal Government data for training and evaluating artificial intelligence systems.
(2)

Requirements
(A)

In general
The list developed pursuant to paragraph (1) shall—
(i)
prioritize data that will advance novel artificial intelligence systems in the public interest; and
(ii)
prioritize datasets unlikely to independently receive sufficient private sector support to enable their creation, absent Federal funding.
(B)

Datasets identified
In carrying out subparagraph (A)(ii), the Director shall identify 20 datasets to be prioritized.
(3)

Considerations
In developing the list under paragraph (1), the Director shall consider the following:
(A)
Applicability to the initial list of societal, national, and geostrategic challenges set forth by subsection (b) of section 10387 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19107), or any successor list.
(B)
Applicability to the initial list of key technology focus areas set forth by subsection (c) of such section, or any successor list.
(C)
Applicability to other major United States economic sectors, such as agriculture, health care, transportation, manufacturing, communications, weather services, and positive utility to small and medium United States businesses.
(D)
Opportunities to improve datasets in effect before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(E)
Inclusion of data representative of the entire population of the United States.
(F)
Potential national security threats to releasing datasets, consistent with the United States Government approach to data flows.
(G)
Requirements of laws in effect.
(H)
Applicability to the priorities listed in the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan of the National Science and Technology Council, dated October 2016.
(I)
Ability to use data already made available to the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot program or any successor program.
(4)

Public input
Before finalizing the list required by paragraph (1), the Director shall implement public comment procedures for receiving input and comment from private industry, academia, civil society, and other relevant stakeholders.
(b)

National Science and Technology Council agencies
The head of each agency with a representative included in the Interagency Committee pursuant to section 5103(c) of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9413(c)) or the heads of multiple agencies with a representative included in the Interagency Committee working cooperatively, consistent with the missions or responsibilities of each Executive agency—
(1)
subject to the availability of appropriations, shall award grants or otherwise establish incentives, through new or existing programs, for the creation or improvement of curated datasets identified in the list developed pursuant to subsection (a)(1), including methods for addressing data scarcity;
(2)
may establish or leverage existing initiatives, including public-private partnerships, to encourage private sector cost-sharing in the creation or improvement of such datasets;
(3)
may apply the priorities set forth in the list developed pursuant to subsection (a)(1) to the enactment of Federal public access and open government data policies;
(4)
in carrying out this subsection, shall ensure consistency with Federal provisions of law relating to privacy, including the technology and privacy standards applied to the National Secure Data Service under section 10375(f) of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19085(f)); and
(5)
in carrying out this subsection, shall ensure data sharing is limited with any country that the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the Director of National Intelligence, determines to be engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the national security or foreign policy of the United States.
(c)

Availability of datasets
Datasets that are created or improved by Federal agencies may be made available to the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program established by the Director of the National Science Foundation in accordance with Executive Order 14110 (88 Fed. Reg. 75191; relating to safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence), or any successor program.
(d)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require the Federal Government or other contributors to disclose any information—
(1)
relating to a trade secret or other protected intellectual property right;
(2)
that is confidential business information; or
(3)
that is privileged.
202.

Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence
(a)

List of priorities for Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence
(1)

List required
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall, acting through the National Science and Technology Council and the Interagency Committee established or designated pursuant to section 5103 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9413), in consultation with industry, civil society, and academia, establish a list of priorities for Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence that seek—
(A)
to expedite the development of artificial intelligence systems in the United States; and
(B)
to stimulate artificial intelligence research, development, and commercialization that solves or advances specific, well-defined, and measurable challenges.
(2)

Contents
The list established pursuant to paragraph (1) may include the following priorities:
(A)
To overcome challenges with engineering of and applied research on microelectronics, including through integration of artificial intelligence with emerging technologies, such as machine learning and quantum computing, or with respect to the physical limits on transistors, electrical interconnects, and memory elements.
(B)
To promote transformational or long-term advancements in computing and artificial intelligence technologies through—
(i)
next-generation algorithm design;
(ii)
next-generation compute capability;
(iii)
generative and adaptive artificial intelligence for design applications;
(iv)
photonics-based microprocessors and optical communication networks, including electrophotonics;
(v)
the chemistry and physics of new materials;
(vi)
energy use or energy efficiency;
(vii)
techniques to establish cryptographically secure content provenance information; or
(viii)
safety and controls for artificial intelligence applications.
(C)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions, including through integration among emerging technologies such as quantum computing and machine learning, to overcome barriers relating to innovations in advanced manufacturing in the United States, including areas such as—
(i)
materials, nanomaterials, and composites;
(ii)
rapid, complex design;
(iii)
sustainability and environmental impact of manufacturing operations;
(iv)
predictive maintenance of machinery;
(v)
improved part quality;
(vi)
process inspections;
(vii)
worker safety; and
(viii)
robotics.
(D)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions in sectors of the economy, such as expanding the use of artificial intelligence in maritime vessels, including in navigation and in the design of propulsion systems and fuels.
(E)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions to improve border security, including solutions relevant to the detection of fentanyl, illicit contraband, and other illegal activities.
(3)

Periodic updates
The Director shall update the list established pursuant to paragraph (1) periodically as the Director determines necessary.
(b)

Federal investment initiatives required
Subject to the availability of appropriations, the head of each agency with a representative on the Interagency Committee pursuant to section 5103(c) of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9413(c)) or the heads of multiple agencies with a representative on the Interagency Committee working cooperatively, shall, consistent with the missions or responsibilities of each agency, establish 1 or more prize competitions under section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), challenge-based acquisitions, or other research and development investments that each agency head deems appropriate consistent with the list of priorities established pursuant to subsection (a)(1).
(c)

Timing and announcements of Federal investment initiatives
The President, acting through the Director, shall ensure that, not later than 1 year after the date on which the Director establishes the list required by subsection (a)(1), at least 3 prize competitions, challenge-based acquisitions, or other research and development investments are announced by heads of Federal agencies under subsection (b).
(d)

Requirements
Each head of an agency carrying out an investment initiative under subsection (b) shall ensure that—
(1)
for each prize competition or investment initiative carried out by the agency under such subsection, there is—
(A)
a positive impact on the economic competitiveness of the United States;
(B)
a benefit to United States industry;
(C)
to the extent possible, leveraging of the resources and expertise of industry and philanthropic partners in shaping the investments; and
(D)
in a case involving development and manufacturing, use of advanced manufacturing in the United States; and
(2)
all research conducted for purposes of the investment initiative is conducted in the United States.
1.

Short title; table of contents
(a)

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024”.
(b)

Table of contents
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I—Voluntary artificial intelligence standards, metrics, evaluation tools, testbeds, and international cooperation
Subtitle A—Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute and testbeds
Sec. 101. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
Sec. 102. Program on artificial intelligence testbeds.
Sec. 103. National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Energy testbed to identify, test, and synthesize new materials.
Sec. 104. National Science Foundation and Department of Energy collaboration to make scientific discoveries through the use of artificial intelligence.
Sec. 105. Progress report.
Subtitle B—International cooperation
Sec. 111. International coalition on innovation, development, and harmonization of standards with respect to artificial intelligence.
Sec. 112. Requirement to support bilateral and multilateral artificial intelligence research collaborations.
Subtitle C—Identifying regulatory barriers to innovation
Sec. 121. Comptroller General of the United States identification of risks and obstacles relating to artificial intelligence and Federal agencies.
TITLE II—Artificial intelligence research, development, capacity building activities
Sec. 201. Public data for artificial intelligence systems.
Sec. 202. Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence.
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress.
TITLE I—Voluntary artificial intelligence standards, metrics, evaluation tools, testbeds, and international cooperation
Sec. 100. Definitions.
Subtitle A—Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute and testbeds
Sec. 101. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
Sec. 102. Interagency coordination and program to facilitate artificial intelligence testbeds.
Sec. 103. National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Energy testbed to identify, test, and synthesize new materials.
Sec. 104. Coordination, reimbursement, and savings provisions.
Sec. 105. Progress report.
Subtitle B—International cooperation
Sec. 111. International coalitions on innovation, development, and alignment of standards with respect to artificial intelligence.
Subtitle C—Identifying regulatory barriers to innovation
Sec. 121. Comptroller General of the United States identification of risks and obstacles relating to artificial intelligence and Federal agencies.
TITLE II—Artificial intelligence research, development, capacity building activities
Sec. 201. Public data for artificial intelligence systems.
Sec. 202. Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence.
TITLE III—Research security and other matters
Sec. 301. Research security.
Sec. 302. Expansion of authority to hire critical technical experts.
Sec. 303. Foundation for Standards and Metrology.
Sec. 304. Prohibition on certain policies relating to the use of artificial intelligence or other automated systems.
Sec. 305. Certifications and audits of temporary fellows.
2.

Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that policies affecting artificial intelligence should maximize the potential, development, and use of artificial intelligence to benefit all private and public stakeholders.
I

Voluntary artificial intelligence standards, metrics, evaluation tools, testbeds, and international cooperation
100.

Definitions
In this title:
(1)

Artificial intelligence
The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given such term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401).
(2)

Artificial intelligence model
The term artificial intelligence model means a component of an artificial intelligence system that is—
(A)
derived using mathematical, computational, statistical, or machine-learning techniques; and
(B)
used as part of an artificial intelligence system to produce outputs from a given set of inputs.
(3)

Artificial intelligence system
The term artificial intelligence system means an engineered or machine-based system that—
(A)
can, for a given set of objectives, generate outputs such as predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments; and
(B)
is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy.
(4)

Critical infrastructure
The term critical infrastructure has the meaning given such term in section 1016(e) of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
(5)

Federal laboratory
The term Federal laboratory has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703).
(6)

Foundation model
The term foundation model means an artificial intelligence model trained on broad data at scale and is adaptable to a wide range of downstream tasks.
(7)

National Laboratory
The term National Laboratory has the meaning given such term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
(8)

Testbed
The term testbed means a facility or mechanism equipped for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of tools and technologies, including artificial intelligence systems, to help evaluate the functionality, trustworthiness, usability, and performance of those tools or technologies.
A

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute and testbeds
101.

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute
The National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 271 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 22A (15 U.S.C. 278h–1) the following:
“22B.

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute
(a)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Agency
The term agency has the meaning given the term “Executive agency” in section 105 of title 5, United States Code.
(2)

Artificial intelligence
The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given such term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401).
(3)

Artificial intelligence blue-teaming
The term artificial intelligence blue-teaming means an effort to conduct operational vulnerability evaluations and provide mitigation techniques to entities who have a need for an independent technical review of the security posture of an artificial intelligence system.
(4)

Artificial intelligence red-teaming
The term artificial intelligence red-teaming means structured adversarial testing efforts of an artificial intelligence system.
(5)

Federal laboratory
The term Federal laboratory has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703).
(6)

Foundation model
The term foundation model means an artificial intelligence model trained on broad data at scale and is adaptable to a wide range of downstream tasks.
(7)

Synthetic content
The term synthetic content means information, such as images, videos, audio clips, and text, that has been significantly modified or generated by algorithms, including by an artificial intelligence system.
(8)

Testbed
The term testbed means a facility or mechanism equipped for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of tools and technologies, including artificial intelligence systems, to help evaluate the functionality, trustworthiness, usability, and performance of those tools or technologies.
(9)

Watermarking
The term watermarking means the act of embedding information that is intended to be difficult to remove, into outputs generated by artificial intelligence systems or in original content, including outputs such as text, images, audio, videos, software code, or any other digital content or data, for the purposes of verifying the authenticity of the output or the identity or characteristics of its provenance, modifications, or conveyance.
(b)

Establishment of Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute
(1)

In general
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024, the Director shall establish an institute on artificial intelligence within the Institute.
(2)

Designation
The institute established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the “Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute”.
(3)

Mission
The mission of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute is to assist the private sector and agencies in developing voluntary best practices for the robust assessment of artificial intelligence systems, which may be contributed to or inform the work on such practices in standards development organizations.
(c)

Functions
(1)

In general
The functions of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, which the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute shall carry out in coordination with the laboratories of the Institute, include the following:
(A)
Using publicly available or voluntarily provided information, assessing artificial intelligence systems and developing best practices for reliable and secure development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence technology.
(B)
Supporting artificial intelligence red-teaming, sharing best practices, and coordinating on building testbeds and test environments with allies and international partners of the United States.
(C)
Developing and publishing physical and cybersecurity tools, methodologies, best practices, voluntary guidelines, and other supporting information to assist persons who maintain systems used to create or train artificial intelligence models with discovering and mitigating vulnerabilities and attacks, including manipulation through data poisoning, including those that may be exploited by foreign adversaries.
(D)
Establishing artificial intelligence blue-teaming capabilities to support mitigation approaches and partnering with industry to address the reliability of artificial intelligence systems.
(E)
Developing tools, methodologies, best practices, and voluntary guidelines for detecting synthetic content, authenticating content and tracking of the provenance of content, labeling original and synthetic content, such as by watermarking, and evaluating software and systems relating to detection and labeling of synthetic content.
(F)
Coordinating or developing metrics and methodologies for testing artificial intelligence systems, including the following:
(i)
Cataloging existing artificial intelligence metrics and evaluation methodologies used in industry and academia.
(ii)
Testing the efficacy of existing metrics and evaluations.
(G)
Coordinating with counterpart international institutions, partners, and allies, to support global interoperability in the development of research and testing of standards relating to artificial intelligence.
(d)

Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium
(1)

Establishment
(A)

In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish a consortium of stakeholders from academic or research communities, Federal laboratories, private industry, including companies of all sizes with different roles in the use of artificial intelligence systems, including developers, deployers, evaluators, users, and civil society with expertise in matters relating to artificial intelligence to support the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute in carrying out the functions set forth under subsection (c).
(B)

Designation
The consortium established pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be known as the “Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium”.
(2)

Consultation
The Director shall consult with the consortium established under this subsection not less frequently than quarterly.
(3)

Annual reports to Congress
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024 and not less frequently than once each year thereafter, the Director shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a report summarizing the contributions of the members of the consortium established under this subsection in support the efforts of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
(e)

Voluntary artificial intelligence testing standards
In carrying out the functions under subsection (c), the Director shall support and contribute to the development of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards for testing artificial intelligence system components, including by addressing, as the Director considers appropriate, the following:
(1)
Physical infrastructure for training or developing artificial intelligence models and systems, including cloud infrastructure.
(2)
Physical infrastructure for operating artificial intelligence systems, including cloud infrastructure.
(3)
Data for training artificial intelligence models.
(4)
Data for evaluating the functionality and trustworthiness of trained artificial intelligence models and systems.
(5)
Trained or partially trained artificial intelligence models and any resulting software systems or products.
(6)
Human-in-the-loop testing of artificial intelligence models and systems.
(f)

Matters relating to disclosure and access
(1)

FOIA exemption
Any confidential content, as deemed confidential by the contributing private sector person, shall be exempt from public disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code.
(2)

Limitation on access to content
Access to a contributing private sector person’s voluntarily provided confidential content, as deemed confidential by the contributing private sector person shall be limited to the private sector person and the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
(3)

Aggregated information
The Director may make aggregated, deidentified information available to contributing companies, the public, and other agencies, as the Director considers appropriate, in support of the purposes of this section.
(g)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to provide the Director any enforcement authority that was not in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024.
(h)

Prohibition on access to resources for entities under control of certain foreign governments
(1)

In general
An entity under the ownership, control, or influence of the government of a covered nation may not access any of the resources of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
(2)

Criteria for identification
The Director, working with the heads of the relevant Federal agencies, shall establish criteria to determine if any entity that seeks to utilize the resources of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute is under the ownership, control, or influence of the government of a covered nation.
(3)

Definitions
In this subsection:
(A)

Covered nation
The term covered nation has the meaning given that term in section 4872 of title 10, United States Code.
(B)

Ownership, control, or influence of the government of a covered nation
The term ownership, control, or influence of the government of a covered nation, with respect to an entity, means the government of a covered nation—
(i)
has the power to direct or decide matters affecting the entity's management or operations in a manner that could—
(I)
result in unauthorized access to classified information; or
(II)
adversely affect performance of a contract or agreement requiring access to classified information; and
(ii)
exercises that power—
(I)
directly or indirectly;
(II)
through ownership of the entity's securities, by contractual arrangements, or other similar means;
(III)
by the ability to control or influence the election or appointment of one or more members to the entity's governing board (such as the board of directors, board of managers, or board of trustees) or its equivalent; or
(IV)
prospectively (such as by not currently exercising the power, but could).” .
102.

Interagency coordination and program to facilitate artificial intelligence testbeds
(a)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Appropriate committees of Congress
The term appropriate committees of Congress means—
(A)
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and
(B)
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives.
(2)

Director
The term Director means the Director of the National Science Foundation.
(3)

Institute
The term Institute means the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(4)

Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
(5)

Under Secretary
The term Under Secretary means the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology.
(b)

Program required
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary and the Secretary, in coordination with the Director, shall jointly establish a testbed program to encourage collaboration and support partnerships between the National Laboratories, Federal laboratories, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program established by the Director, or any successor program, and public and private sector entities, including companies of all sizes, to conduct tests, evaluations, and security or vulnerability risk assessments, and to support research and development, of artificial intelligence systems, including measurement methodologies developed by the Institute, in order to develop standards and encourage development of a third-party ecosystem.
(c)

Activities
In carrying out the program required by subsection (b), the Under Secretary and the Secretary—
(1)
may use the advanced computing resources, testbeds, and expertise of the National Laboratories, Federal laboratories, the Institute, the National Science Foundation, and private sector entities to run tests and evaluations on the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence systems;
(2)
shall use existing solutions to the maximum extent practicable;
(3)
shall develop automated and reproducible tests and evaluations for artificial intelligence systems to the extent that is practicable;
(4)
shall assess the computational resources necessary to run tests and evaluations of artificial intelligence systems;
(5)
shall research methods to effectively minimize the computational resources needed to run tests, evaluations, and security assessments of artificial intelligence systems;
(6)
shall where practicable, develop tests and evaluations for artificial intelligence systems that are designed for high-, medium-, and low-computational intensity; and
(7)
shall prioritize assessments by identifying security vulnerabilities of artificial intelligence systems, including the establishment of and utilization of existing classified testbeds, at the National Laboratories if necessary, including with respect to—
(A)
autonomous offensive cyber capabilities;
(B)
cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the artificial intelligence software ecosystem and beyond;
(C)
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, critical infrastructure, and energy-security threats or hazards; and
(D)
such other capabilities as the Under Secretary or the Secretary determines necessary.
(d)

Consideration given
In carrying out the activities required by subsection (c), the Under Secretary and the Secretary shall take under consideration the applicability of any tests, evaluations, and risk assessments to artificial intelligence systems trained using primarily biological sequence data that could be used to enhance an artificial intelligence system’s ability to contribute to the creation of a pandemic or biological weapon, including those systems used for gene synthesis.
(e)

Metrics
The Under Secretary and the Secretary shall jointly develop metrics to assess—
(1)
the effectiveness of the program in encouraging collaboration and supporting partnerships as described in subsection (b); and
(2)
the impact of the program on public and private sector integration and use of artificial intelligence systems.
(f)

Use of existing program
In carrying out the program required by subsection (b), the Under Secretary, the Secretary, and the Director may use a program that was in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(g)

Evaluation and findings
Not later than 3 years after the start of the program required by subsection (b), the Under Secretary and the Secretary shall jointly—
(1)
evaluate the success of the program in encouraging collaboration and supporting partnerships as described in subsection (b), using the metrics developed pursuant to subsection (e);
(2)
evaluate the success of the program in encouraging public and private sector integration and use of artificial intelligence systems by using the metrics developed pursuant to subsection (e); and
(3)
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress the evaluation supported pursuant to paragraph (1) and the findings of the Under Secretary, the Secretary, and the Director with respect to the testbed program.
(h)

Consultation
In carrying out subsection (b), the Under Secretary and the Secretary shall consult, as the Under Secretary and the Secretary consider appropriate, with the following:
(1)
Industry, including private artificial intelligence laboratories, companies of all sizes, and representatives from the United States financial sector.
(2)
Academia and institutions of higher education.
(3)
Civil society.
(i)

Establishment of voluntary foundation models test program
In carrying out the program under subsection (b), the Under Secretary and the Secretary shall, jointly carry out a test program to provide vendors of foundation models, as well as vendors of artificial intelligence virtual agents and robots that incorporate foundation models, the opportunity to voluntarily test foundation models across a range of modalities, such as models that ingest and output text, images, audio, video, software code, and mixed modalities.
(j)

Matters relating to disclosure and access
(1)

Limitation on access to content
Access to a contributing private sector person’s voluntarily provided confidential content, as deemed confidential by the contributing private sector person, shall be limited to the contributing private sector person and the Institute.
(2)

Aggregated information
The Under Secretary and the Secretary may make aggregated, deidentified information available to contributing companies, the public, and other agencies, as the Under Secretary considers appropriate, in support of the purposes of this section.
(3)

FOIA exemption
Any confidential content, as deemed confidential by the contributing private sector person, shall be exempt from public disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code.
(k)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a person to disclose any information, including information—
(1)
relating to a trade secret or other protected intellectual property right;
(2)
that is confidential business information; or
(3)
that is privileged.
(l)

Sunset
The programs required by subsections (b) and (i) and the requirements of this section shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
103.

National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Energy testbed to identify, test, and synthesize new materials
(a)

In general
The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, and the Secretary of Energy may use the program established under section 102(b) to advance materials science and energy storage and optimization and to support advanced manufacturing for the benefit of the United States economy through the use of artificial intelligence, autonomous laboratories, and artificial intelligence integrated with emerging technologies, such as quantum hybrid computing and robotics.
(b)

Support for accelerated technologies
The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy shall ensure that technologies accelerated under subsection (a) are supported by advanced algorithms and models, uncertainty quantification, and software and workforce development tools to produce benchmark data, model comparison tools, and best practices guides.
(c)

Public-private partnerships
In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy shall, in consultation with industry, civil society, and academia, enter into such public-private partnerships as the Secretaries jointly determine appropriate.
(d)

Resources
In carrying out this section, the Secretaries may—
(1)
use science and technology resources from the Manufacturing USA Program, the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the National Laboratories, Federal laboratories, and the private sector; and
(2)
the program established under section 102(b).
104.

Coordination, reimbursement, and savings provisions
(a)

Coordination and duplication
The Secretary of Commerce shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure no duplication of activities carried out under this subtitle with the activities of—
(1)
research entities of the Department of Energy, including—
(A)
the National Laboratories; and
(B)
the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program; and
(2)
relevant industries.
(b)

National laboratory resources
Any advanced computing resources, testbeds, expertise, or other resources of the Department of Energy or the National Laboratories that are provided to the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or any other applicable entities under this subtitle shall be provided—
(1)
on a reimbursable basis; and
(2)
pursuant to a reimbursable agreement.
(c)

Waiver
The Secretary may waive the requirements set forth in subsection (b) if the Secretary determines the waiver is necessary or appropriate to carry out the missions of the Department of Commerce.
(d)

Savings provision
Nothing in this subtitle shall be construed—
(1)
to modify any requirement or authority provided under section 5501 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9461); or
(2)
to allow the Secretary of Commerce (including the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology or the Director of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute) or the Director of the National Science Foundation to use monetary resources of the Department of Energy or any National Laboratory.
105.

Progress report
(a)

In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology shall, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy, submit to Congress a report on the implementation of sections 102 and 103.
(b)

Contents
The report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1)
A description of the reimbursable agreements, statements of work, and associated project schedules and deliverables for the testbed program established pursuant to section 102(b) and section 103(a).
(2)
Details on the total amount of reimbursable agreements entered into pursuant to section 104(b).
(3)
Such additional information as the Under Secretary determines appropriate.
B

International cooperation
111.

International coalitions on innovation, development, and alignment of standards with respect to artificial intelligence
(a)

In general
The Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology (in this section referred to as the “Under Secretary”) and the Secretary of Energy (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) shall jointly lead information exchange and coordination among Federal agencies and communication from Federal agencies to the private sector of the United States and like-minded governments of foreign countries to ensure effective Federal engagement in the development and use of international technical standards for artificial intelligence.
(b)

Requirements
To support private sector-led engagement and ensure effective Federal engagement in the development and use of international technical standards for artificial intelligence, the Under Secretary shall seek to form alliances or coalitions with like-minded governments of foreign countries—
(1)
to support the private sector-led development and adoption of standards or alignment with respect to artificial intelligence;
(2)
to encourage the adoption of technical standards developed in the United States to be adopted by international standards organizations;
(3)
to facilitate international collaboration on innovation, science, and advancement in artificial intelligence research and development, including data sharing, expertise, and resources; and
(4)
to develop the government-to-government infrastructure to support the activities described in paragraphs (1) through (3), using existing bilateral and multilateral agreements to the extent practicable.
(c)

Criteria for participation
In forming an alliance or coalition of like-minded governments of foreign countries under subsection (b), the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of State, and the Director, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies, shall jointly establish technology trust criteria—
(1)
to ensure all partner countries have a high level of scientific and technological advancement; and
(2)
to support the principles for international standards development as detailed in the Committee Decision on World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (Annex 2 of Part 1 of G/TBT/1), on international standards, such as transparency, openness, and consensus-based decision-making.
(d)

Consultation on innovation and advancements in artificial intelligence
In forming an alliance or coalition under subsection (b), the Director, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of State shall consult with the Secretary of Energy and the Director of the National Science Foundation on approaches to innovation and advancements in artificial intelligence.
(e)

Security and protection of intellectual property
The Director, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and the Secretary of State shall jointly ensure that an alliance or coalition formed under subsection (b) is only undertaken with countries that—
(1)
have in place sufficient intellectual property protections, safety standards, and risk management approaches relevant to innovation and artificial intelligence; and
(2)
develop and coordinate research security measures, export controls, and intellectual property protections relevant to innovation, development, and standard-setting relating to artificial intelligence.
(f)

Limitation on eligibility of the People's Republic of China
(1)

In general
The People’s Republic of China is not eligible to participate in an alliance or coalition of like-minded governments of foreign countries under subsection (b) until the United States Trade Representative determines in a report to Congress required by section 421 of the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 6951) that the People’s Republic of China has come into compliance with the commitments it made in connection with its accession to the World Trade Organization.
(2)

Report required
Upon the submission of a report described in paragraph (1), the officials specified in paragraph (3) shall jointly submit to Congress a report that includes the following:
(A)
A detailed justification for why government-to-government information exchange and coordination with the Government of the People’s Republic of China is in the national security interests of the United States.
(B)
An assessment of the risks and potential effects of such coordination, including any potential for the transfer under an alliance or coalition described in paragraph (1) of technology or intellectual property capable of harming the national security interests of the United States.
(C)
A detailed justification for how the officials specified in paragraph (3) intend to address human rights concerns in any scientific and technology collaboration proposed to be conducted by such an alliance or coalition.
(D)
An assessment of the extent to which those officials will be able to continuously monitor the commitments made by the People’s Republic of China in participating in such an alliance or coalition.
(E)
Such other information relating to such an alliance or coalition as those officials consider appropriate.
(3)

Officials specified
The officials specified in this paragraph are the following:
(A)
The Director.
(B)
The Secretary of Commerce.
(C)
The Secretary of Energy.
(D)
The Secretary of State.
(g)

Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed—
(1)
to prohibit a person (as defined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code) from participating in an international standards body; or
(2)
to constrain separate engagement with emerging economies on artificial intelligence.
C

Identifying regulatory barriers to innovation
121.

Comptroller General of the United States identification of risks and obstacles relating to artificial intelligence and Federal agencies
(a)

Report required
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on regulatory impediments to innovation in artificial intelligence systems.
(b)

Contents
The report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1)
Significant examples of Federal statutes and regulations that directly affect the innovation of artificial intelligence systems, including the ability of companies of all sizes to compete in artificial intelligence, which should also account for the effect of voluntary standards and best practices developed with contributions from the Federal Government.
(2)
An evaluation of the progress in government adoption of artificial intelligence and use of artificial intelligence to improve the quality of government services.
(3)
Based on the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to paragraphs (1) and (2), such recommendations as the Comptroller General may have for legislative or administrative action to increase the rate of innovation in artificial intelligence systems.
II

Artificial intelligence research, development, capacity building activities
201.

Public data for artificial intelligence systems
(a)

In general
Title LI of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9411 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“5103A.

Public data for artificial intelligence systems
(a)

List of priorities
(1)

In general
To expedite the development of artificial intelligence systems in the United States, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (in this section referred to as the “Director”) shall, acting through the National Science and Technology Council and the Interagency Committee and in consultation with the Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building established under section 315 of title 5, United States Code, develop a list of priorities for Federal investment in creating or improving curated, publicly available Federal Government data for training and evaluating artificial intelligence systems and identify an appropriate location to host curated datasets.
(2)

Requirements
(A)

In general
The list developed pursuant to paragraph (1) shall—
(i)
prioritize data that will advance novel artificial intelligence systems in the public interest; and
(ii)
prioritize datasets unlikely to independently receive sufficient private sector support to enable their creation, absent Federal funding.
(B)

Datasets identified
In carrying out subparagraph (A)(ii), the Director shall identify 20 datasets to be prioritized.
(3)

Considerations
In developing the list under paragraph (1), the Director shall consider the following:
(A)
Applicability to the initial list of societal, national, and geostrategic challenges set forth by subsection (b) of section 10387 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19107), or any successor list.
(B)
Applicability to the initial list of key technology focus areas set forth by subsection (c) of such section, or any successor list.
(C)
Applicability to other major United States economic sectors, such as agriculture, health care, transportation, manufacturing, communications, weather services, and positive utility to small- and medium-sized United States businesses.
(D)
Opportunities to improve datasets in effect before the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024.
(E)
Inclusion of data representative of the entire population of the United States.
(F)
Potential national security threats to releasing datasets, consistent with the United States Government approach to data flows.
(G)
Requirements of laws in effect.
(H)
Applicability to the priorities listed in the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan of the National Science and Technology Council, dated October 2016.
(I)
Ability to use data already made available to the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot program or any successor program.
(J)
Coordination with other Federal open data efforts, as applicable.
(4)

Public input
Before finalizing the list required by paragraph (1), the Director shall implement public comment procedures for receiving input and comment from private industry, academia, civil society, and other relevant stakeholders.
(b)

Interagency Committee
In carrying out this section, the Interagency Committee—
(1)
may establish or leverage existing initiatives, including through public-private partnerships, for the creation or improvement of curated datasets identified in the list developed pursuant to subsection (a)(1), including methods for addressing data scarcity;
(2)
may apply the priorities set forth in the list developed pursuant to subsection (a)(1) to the enactment of Federal public access and open government data policies;
(3)
shall ensure consistency with Federal provisions of law relating to privacy, including the technology and privacy standards applied to the National Secure Data Service under section 10375(f) of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19085(f)); and
(4)
shall ensure that no data sharing is permitted with any country that the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Energy, and the Director of National Intelligence, determines to be engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the national security or foreign policy of the United States.
(c)

Availability of datasets
Datasets that are created or improved pursuant to this section—
(1)
shall, in the case of a dataset created or improved by a Federal agency, be made available to the comprehensive data inventory developed and maintained by the Federal agency pursuant to section 3511(a) of title 44, United States Code, in accordance with all applicable regulations; and
(2)
may be made available to the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program established by the Director of the National Science Foundation, and the applicable programs established by the Department of Energy, in accordance with Executive Order 14110 (88 Fed. Reg. 75191; relating to safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence), or any successor program.
(d)

Report
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024, the Director shall, acting through the National Science and Technology Council and the Interagency Committee, submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a report that includes—
(1)
best practices in developing publicly curated artificial intelligence datasets;
(2)
lessons learned and challenges encountered in developing the curated artificial intelligence datasets;
(3)
principles used for artificial intelligence-ready data; and
(4)
recommendations related to artificial intelligence-ready data standards and potential processes for development of such standards.
(e)

Rules of construction
(1)

In general
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the Federal Government or other contributors to disclose any information—
(A)
relating to a trade secret or other protected intellectual property right;
(B)
that is confidential business information; or
(C)
that is privileged.
(2)

Disclosure to public datasets
Except as specifically provided for in this section, nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the head of a Federal agency from withholding information from a public dataset.”.
(b)

Clerical amendments
The table of contents at the beginning of section 2 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 and the table of contents at the beginning of title LI of such Act are both amended by inserting after the items relating to section 5103 the following new item:
“5103A. Public data for artificial intelligence systems.”.
202.

Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence
(a)

In general
Title LI of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9411 et seq.), as amended by section 201, is further amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“5107.

Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence
(a)

Establishment of program
(1)

In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (acting through the National Science and Technology Council) and the Interagency Committee may establish a program to award prizes, using the authorities and processes established under section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), to eligible participants as determined by the co-chairs of the Interagency Committee pursuant to subsection (e).
(2)

Purposes
The purposes of the program required by paragraph (1) are as follows:
(A)
To expedite the development of artificial intelligence systems in the United States.
(B)
To stimulate artificial intelligence research, development, and commercialization that solves or advances specific, well-defined, and measurable challenges in 1 or more of the categories established pursuant to subsection (b).
(b)

Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence
(1)

List of priorities
The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (acting through the National Science and Technology Council) and the Interagency Committee and in consultation with industry, civil society, and academia, identify, and annually review and update as the Director considers appropriate, a list of priorities for Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence pursuant to the purposes set forth under subsection (a)(2).
(2)

Initial list
(A)

Contents
The list established pursuant to paragraph (1) may include the following priorities:
(i)
To overcome challenges with engineering of and applied research on microelectronics, including through integration of artificial intelligence with emerging technologies, such as neuromorphic and quantum computing, or with respect to the physical limits on transistors, advanced interconnects, and memory elements.
(ii)
To promote transformational or long-term advancements in computing and artificial intelligence technologies through—
(I)
next-generation algorithm design;
(II)
next-generation compute capability;
(III)
generative and adaptive artificial intelligence for design applications;
(IV)
photonics-based microprocessors and optical communication networks, including electrophotonics;
(V)
the chemistry and physics of new materials;
(VI)
energy use or energy efficiency;
(VII)
techniques to establish cryptographically secure content provenance information; or
(VIII)
safety and controls for artificial intelligence applications.
(iii)
To promote explainability and mechanistic interpretability of artificial intelligence systems.
(iv)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions, including through integration among emerging technologies such as neuromorphic and quantum computing to overcome barriers relating to innovations in advanced manufacturing in the United States, including areas such as—
(I)
materials, nanomaterials, and composites;
(II)
rapid, complex design;
(III)
sustainability and environmental impact of manufacturing operations;
(IV)
predictive maintenance of machinery;
(V)
improved part quality;
(VI)
process inspections;
(VII)
worker safety; and
(VIII)
robotics.
(v)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions in sectors of the economy, such as expanding the use of artificial intelligence in maritime vessels, including in navigation and in the design of propulsion systems and fuels.
(vi)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions to improve border security, including solutions relevant to the detection of fentanyl, illicit contraband, and other illegal activities.
(vii)
To develop artificial intelligence for science applications.
(viii)
To develop cybersecurity for artificial intelligence-related intellectual property, such as artificial intelligence systems and artificial intelligence algorithms.
(ix)
To develop artificial intelligence solutions to modernize code and software systems that are deployed in government agencies and critical infrastructure and are at risk of maintenance difficulties due to code obsolescence or challenges finding expertise in outdated code bases.
(3)

Consultation on identification and selection of grand challenges
The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, such agency heads as the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy considers relevant, and the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee shall each identify and select artificial intelligence research and development grand challenges in which eligible participants will compete to solve or advance for prize awards under subsection (a).
(4)

Public input on identification
The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall also seek public input on the identification of artificial intelligence research and development grand challenges under subsection (a).
(5)

Problem statements; success metrics
For each priority for a Federal grand challenge identified under paragraph (1) and the grand challenges identified and selected under paragraph (3), the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall—
(A)
establish a specific and well-defined grand challenge problem statement and ensure that such problem statement is published on a website linking out to relevant prize competition listings on the website Challenge.gov, or successor website, that is managed by the General Services Administration; and
(B)
establish and publish on the website Challenge.gov, or successor website, clear targets, success metrics, and validation protocols for the prize competitions designed to address each grand challenge, in order to provide specific benchmarks that will be used to evaluate submissions to the prize competition.
(c)

Federal investment initiatives authorized
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this purpose, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Transportation, the Director of the National Science Foundation may, consistent with the missions or responsibilities of each Federal agency, establish 1 or more prize competitions under section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), challenge-based acquisitions, or other research and development investments that each agency head deems appropriate consistent with the list of priorities established pursuant to subsection (b)(1).
(d)

Requirements
(1)

In general
The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall develop requirements for—
(A)
the process for prize competitions under subsections (a) and (c), including eligibility criteria for participants, consistent with the requirements under paragraph (2); and
(B)
testing, judging, and verification procedures for submissions to receive a prize award under subsection (c).
(2)

Eligibility requirement and judging
(A)

Eligibility
In accordance with the requirement described in section 24(g)(3) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719(g)(3)), a recipient of a prize award under subsection (c)—
(i)
that is a private entity shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States; and
(ii)
who is an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
(B)

Judges
In accordance with section 24(k) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719(k)), a judge of a prize competition under subsection (c) may be an individual from the private sector.
(3)

Agency leadership
Each agency head carrying out an investment initiative under subsection (c) shall ensure that—
(A)
for each prize competition or investment initiative carried out by the agency head under such subsection, there is—
(i)
a positive impact on the economic competitiveness of the United States;
(ii)
a benefit to United States industry;
(iii)
to the extent possible, leveraging of the resources and expertise of industry and philanthropic partners in shaping the investments; and
(iv)
in a case involving development and manufacturing, use of advanced manufacturing in the United States; and
(B)
all research conducted for purposes of the investment initiative is conducted in the United States.
(e)

Reports
(1)

Notification of winning submission
Not later than 60 days after the date on which a prize is awarded under subsection (c), the agency head awarding the prize shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and such other committees of Congress as the agency head considers relevant a report that describes the winning submission to the prize competition and its benefits to the United States.
(2)

Biennial report
(A)

In general
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024, and biennially thereafter, the heads of agencies described in subsection (c) shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and such other committees of Congress as the agency heads consider relevant a report that includes—
(i)
a description of the activities carried out by the agency heads under this section;
(ii)
a description of the active competitions and the results of completed competitions under subsection (c); and
(iii)
efforts to provide information to the public on active competitions under subsection (c) to encourage participation.
(B)

Public accessibility
The agency heads described in subsection (c) shall make the biennial report required under subparagraph (A) publicly accessible, including by posting the biennial report on a website in an easily accessible location, such as the GovInfo website of the Government Publishing Office.
(f)

Accessibility
In carrying out any competition under subsection (c), the head of an agency shall post the active prize competitions and available prize awards under subsection (b) to Challenge.gov, or successor website, after the grand challenges are selected and the prize competitions are designed pursuant to subsections (c) and (e) to ensure the prize competitions are widely accessible to eligible participants.
(g)

Sunset
This section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024.”.
(b)

Comptroller General of the United States studies and reports
(1)

Initial study
(A)

In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study of Federal prize competitions, which shall include an assessment of the efficacy and impact of prize competitions generally.
(B)

Elements
The study conducted under subparagraph (A) shall include, to the extent practicable, the following:
(i)
A survey of all existing, current and ongoing Federal prize competitions carried out under authorities enacted before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(ii)
An assessment of those existing, current, and ongoing Federal prize competitions that includes addressing—
(I)
whether and what technology or innovation would have been developed in the absence of the prize competitions;
(II)
whether the prize competitions shortened the timeframe for the development of the technology or innovation;
(III)
whether the prize competition was cost effective;
(IV)
what, if any, other benefits were gained from conducting the prize competitions;
(V)
whether the use of a more traditional policy tool such as a grant or contract have resulted in the development of a similar technology or innovation;
(VI)
whether prize competitions might be designed differently in a way that would result in a more effective or revolutionary technology being developed;
(VII)
what are appropriate metrics that could be used for determining the success of a prize competition, and whether those metrics differ when evaluating near-term and long-term impacts of prize competitions; and
(VIII)
suggested best practices of prize competitions.
(C)

Congressional briefing
Not later than 540 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall provide the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a briefing on the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to the study conducted under subparagraph (A).
(D)

Report
Not later than 540 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the congressional committees specified in subparagraph (C) a report on the findings and recommendations of Comptroller General from the study conducted under subparagraph (A).
(2)

Interim study
(A)

In general
The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study of the Federal prize challenges implemented under section 5108 of the of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, as added by subsection (a), which shall include an assessment of the efficacy and effect of such prize competitions.
(B)

Elements
The study conducted under subparagraph (A) shall include, to the extent practicable, the following:
(i)
A survey of all Federal prize competitions implemented under section 5108 of the of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, as added by subsection (a).
(ii)
An assessment of the Federal prize competitions implemented such section, which shall include addressing the same considerations as set forth under paragraph (1)(B)(ii).
(iii)
An assessment of the efficacy, impact, and cost-effectiveness of prize competitions implemented under section 5108 of the of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, as added by subsection (a), compared to other Federal prize competitions.
(C)

Congressional briefing
Not later than 1 year after completing the study required by subparagraph (A), the Comptroller General shall provide the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a briefing on the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to the study conducted under subparagraph (A).
(D)

Report
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the congressional committees specified in subparagraph (C) a report on the findings and recommendations of the Comptroller General with respect to the study conducted under subparagraph (A).
(c)

Clerical amendments
The table of contents at the beginning of section 2 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 and the table of contents at the beginning of title LI of such Act, as amended by section 201, are both amended by inserting after the items relating to section 5107 the following new item:
“5107. Federal grand challenges in artificial intelligence.”.
III

Research security and other matters
301.

Research security
The activities authorized under this Act shall be carried out in accordance with the provision of subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.; enacted as part of division B of Public Law 117–167) and section 223 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (42 U.S.C. 6605).
302.

Expansion of authority to hire critical technical experts
(a)

In general
Subsection (b) of section 6 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 275) is amended, in the second sentence, by striking “15” and inserting “30
(b)

Modification of sunset
Subsection (c) of such section is amended by striking “under section (b) shall expire on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this section” and inserting “under subsection (b) shall expire on December 30, 2035”.
303.

Foundation for Standards and Metrology
(a)

In general
Subtitle B of title II of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18931 et seq.; relating to measurement research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the future; enacted as part of division B of Public Law 117–167) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“10236.

Foundation for Standards and Metrology
(a)

Establishment
The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall establish a nonprofit corporation to be known as the “Foundation for Standards and Metrology”.
(b)

Mission
The mission of the Foundation shall be to—
(1)
support the Institute in carrying out its activities and mission to advance measurement science, technical standards, and technology in ways that enhance the economic security and prosperity of the United States; and
(2)
advance collaboration with researchers, institutions of higher education, industry, and nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to accelerate the development of technical standards, measurement science, and the commercialization of emerging technologies in the United States.
(c)

Activities
In carrying out its mission under subsection (b), the Foundation may carry out the following:
(1)
Support international metrology and technical standards engagement activities.
(2)
Support studies, projects, and research on metrology and the development of benchmarks and technical standards infrastructure across the Institute’s mission areas.
(3)
Advance collaboration between the Institute and researchers, industry, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, institutions of higher education, federally funded research and development centers, and State, Tribal, and local governments.
(4)
Support the expansion and improvement of research facilities and infrastructure at the Institute to advance the development of emerging technologies.
(5)
Support the commercialization of federally funded research.
(6)
Conduct education and outreach activities.
(7)
Offer direct support to NIST associates, including through the provision of fellowships, grants, stipends, travel, health insurance, professional development training, housing, technical and administrative assistance, recognition awards for outstanding performance, and occupational safety and awareness training and support, and other appropriate expenditures.
(8)
Conduct such other activities as determined necessary by the Foundation to carry out its mission.
(d)

Authority of the foundation
The Foundation shall be the sole entity responsible for carrying out the activities described in subsection (c).
(e)

Stakeholder engagement
The Foundation shall convene, and may consult with, representatives from the Institute, institutions of higher education, the private sector, non-profit organizations, and commercialization organizations to develop activities for the mission of the Foundation under subsection (b) and to advance the activities of the Foundation under subsection (c).
(f)

Limitation
The Foundation shall not be an agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government.
(g)

Support
The Foundation may receive, administer, solicit, accept, and use funds, gifts, devises, or bequests, either absolutely or in trust of real or personal property or any income therefrom or other interest therein to support activities under subsection (c), except that this subsection shall not apply if any of such is from a foreign country of concern or a foreign entity of concern.
(h)

Tax exempt status
The Board shall take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure the Foundation is an organization described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.
(i)

Board of Directors
(1)

Establishment
The Foundation shall be governed by a Board of Directors.
(2)

Composition
(A)

In general
The Board shall be composed of the following:
(i)
Eleven appointed voting members described in subparagraph (B).
(ii)
Ex officio nonvoting members described in subparagraph (C).
(B)

Appointed members
(i)

Initial members
The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall—
(I)
seek to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to develop a list of individuals to serve as members of the Board who are well qualified and will meet the requirements of clauses (ii) and (iii); and
(II)
appoint the initial members of the Board from such list, if applicable, in consultation with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
(ii)

Representation
The appointed members of the Board shall reflect a broad cross-section of stakeholders across diverse sectors, regions and communities, including from academia, private sector entities, technical standards bodies, the investment community, the philanthropic community, and other nonprofit organizations.
(iii)

Experience
The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall ensure the appointed members of the Board have the experience and are qualified to provide advice and information to advance the Foundation’s mission, including in science and technology research and development, technical standards, education, technology transfer, commercialization, or other aspects of the Foundation’s mission.
(C)

Nonvoting members
(i)

Ex officio members
The Director (or Director’s designee) shall be an ex officio member of the Board.
(ii)

No voting power
The ex officio members described in clause (i) shall not have voting power on the Board.
(3)

Chair and vice chair
(A)

In general
The Board shall designate, from among its members—
(i)
an individual to serve as the chair of the Board; and
(ii)
an individual to serve as the vice chair of the Board.
(B)

Terms
The term of service of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board shall end on the earlier of—
(i)
the date that is 3 years after the date on which the Chair or Vice Chair of the Board, as applicable, is designated for the respective position; and
(ii)
the last day of the term of service of the member, as determined under paragraph (4)(A), who is designated to be Chair or Vice Chair of the Board, as applicable.
(C)

Representation
The Chair and Vice Chair of the Board—
(i)
may not be representatives of the same area of subject matter expertise, or entity, as applicable; and
(ii)
may not be representatives of any area of subject matter expertise, or entity, as applicable, represented by the immediately preceding Chair and Vice Chair of the Board.
(4)

Terms and vacancies
(A)

Term limits
Subject to subparagraph (B), the term of office of each member of the Board shall be not more than five years, except that a member of the Board may continue to serve after the expiration of the term of such member until the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date on which the term of such member expires, if no new member is appointed to replace the departing board member.
(B)

Initial appointed members
Of the initial members of the Board appointed under paragraph (4)(A), half of such members shall serve for four years and half of such members shall serve for five years, as determined by the Chair of the Board.
(C)

Vacancies
Any vacancy in the membership of the appointed members of the Board—
(i)
shall be filled in accordance with the bylaws of the Foundation by an individual capable of representing the same area or entity, as applicable, as represented by the vacating board member under paragraph (2)(B)(ii);
(ii)
shall not affect the power of the remaining appointed members to carry out the duties of the Board; and
(iii)
shall be filled by an individual selected by the Board.
(5)

Quorum
A majority of the members of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the purposes of conducting the business of the Board.
(6)

Duties
The Board shall carry out the following:
(A)
Establish bylaws for the Foundation in accordance with paragraph (7).
(B)
Provide overall direction for the activities of the Foundation and establish priority activities.
(C)
Coordinate with the Institute the activities of the Foundation to ensure consistency with the programs and policies of the Institute.
(D)
Evaluate the performance of the Executive Director of the Foundation.
(E)
Actively solicit and accept funds, gifts, grants, devises, or bequests of real or personal property to the Foundation, including from private entities.
(F)
Carry out any other necessary activities of the Foundation.
(7)

Bylaws
The Board shall establish bylaws for the Foundation. In establishing such bylaws, the Board shall ensure the following:
(A)
The bylaws of the Foundation include the following:
(i)
Policies for the selection of the Board members, officers, employees, agents, and contractors of the Foundation.
(ii)
Policies, including ethical and disclosure standards, for the following:
(I)
The acceptance, solicitation, and disposition of donations and grants to the Foundation, including appropriate limits on the ability of donors to designate, by stipulation or restriction, the use or recipient of donated funds.
(II)
The disposition of assets of the Foundation.
(iii)
Policies that subject all employees, fellows, trainees, and other agents of the Foundation (including appointed voting members and ex officio members of the Board) to conflict of interest standards.
(iv)
The specific duties of the Executive Director of the Foundation.
(B)
The bylaws of the Foundation and activities carried out under such bylaws do not—
(i)
reflect unfavorably upon the ability of the Foundation to carry out its responsibilities or official duties in a fair and objective manner; or
(ii)
compromise, or appear to compromise, the integrity of any governmental agency or program, or any officer or employee employed by, or involved in a governmental agency or program.
(8)

Restrictions on membership
(A)

Employees
No employee of the Department of Commerce may be appointed as a voting member of the Board.
(B)

Status
Each voting member of the Board shall be—
(i)
a citizen of the United States;
(ii)
a national of the United States (as such term is defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a));
(iii)
an alien admitted as a refugee under section 207 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1157); or
(iv)
an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.
(9)

Compensation
(A)

In general
Members of the Board may not receive compensation for serving on the Board.
(B)

Certain expenses
In accordance with the bylaws of the Foundation, members of the Board may be reimbursed for travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred in carrying out the duties of the Board.
(10)

Liaison representatives
The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall designate representatives from across the Institute to serve as the liaisons to the Board and the Foundation.
(11)

Personal liability of Board members
The members of the Board shall not be personally liable, except for malfeasance.
(j)

Administration
(1)

Executive Director
(A)

In general
The Foundation shall have an Executive Director who shall be appointed by the Board, and who shall serve at the pleasure of the Board, and for whom the Board shall establish the rate of compensation. Subject to the bylaws established under subsection (i)(7), the Executive Director shall be responsible for the daily operations of the Foundation in carrying out the activities of the Foundation under subsection (c).
(B)

Responsibilities
In carrying out the daily operations of the Foundation, the Executive Director of the Foundation shall carry out the following:
(i)
Hire, promote, compensate, and discharge officers and employees of the Foundation, and define the duties of such officers and employees.
(ii)
Accept and administer donations to the Foundation, and administer the assets of the Foundation.
(iii)
Enter into such contracts and execute legal instruments as are appropriate in carrying out the activities of the Foundation.
(iv)
Perform such other functions as necessary to operate the Foundation.
(C)

Restrictions
(i)

Executive Director
The Executive Director shall be—
(I)
a citizen of the United States;
(II)
a national of the United States (as such term is defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a));
(III)
an alien admitted as a refugee under section 207 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1157); or
(IV)
an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.
(ii)

Officers and employees
Each officer or employee of the Foundation shall be—
(I)
a citizen of the United States;
(II)
a national of the United States (as such term is defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a));
(III)
an alien admitted as a refugee under section 207 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1157); or
(IV)
an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.
(2)

Administrative control
No member of the Board, officer or employee of the Foundation or of any program established by the Foundation, or participant in a program established by the Foundation, may exercise administrative control over any Federal employee.
(3)

Transfer of funds to Institute
The Foundation may transfer funds and property to the Institute, which the Institute may accept and use and which shall be subject to all applicable Federal limitations relating to federally funded research.
(4)

Strategic plan
Not later than one year after the establishment of the Foundation, the Foundation shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a strategic plan that contains the following:
(A)
A plan for the Foundation to become financially self-sustaining in the next five years.
(B)
Short- and long-term objectives of the Foundation, as identified by the Board.
(C)
A description of the efforts the Foundation will take to be transparent in the processes of the Foundation, including processes relating to the following:
(i)
Grant awards, including selection, review, and notification.
(ii)
Communication of past, current, and future research priorities.
(iii)
Solicitation of and response to public input on the priorities identified by the Foundation.
(D)
A description of the financial goals and benchmarks of the Foundation for the following ten years.
(E)
A description of the efforts undertaken by the Foundation to ensure maximum complementarity and minimum redundancy with investments made by the Institute.
(5)

Report
(A)

In general
Not later than 18 months after the establishment of the Foundation and not later than February 1 of each year thereafter, the Foundation shall publish a report describing the activities of the Foundation during the immediately preceding fiscal year. Each such report shall include with respect to such fiscal year a comprehensive statement of the operations, activities, financial condition, progress, and accomplishments of the Foundation.
(B)

Financial condition
With respect to the financial condition of the Foundation, each report under subparagraph (A) shall include the source, and a description of, all support under subsection (g) provided to the Foundation. Each such report shall identify the persons or entities from which such support is received, and include a specification of any restrictions on the purposes for which such support may be used.
(C)

Publication
The Foundation shall make copies of each report submitted under subparagraph (A) available—
(i)
for public inspection, and shall upon request provide a copy of the report to any individual for a charge not to exceed the cost of providing such copy; and
(ii)
to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
(6)

Audits and disclosure
The Foundation shall—
(A)
provide for annual audits of the financial condition of the Foundation, including a full list of the Foundation’s donors and any restrictions on the purposes for which gifts to the Foundation may be used; and
(B)
make such audits, and all other records, documents, and other papers of the Foundation, available to the Secretary and the Comptroller General of the United States for examination or audit.
(7)

Evaluation by Comptroller General
Not later than five years after the date on which the Foundation is established, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate the following:
(A)
An evaluation of the following:
(i)
The extent to which the Foundation is achieving the mission of the Foundation.
(ii)
The operation of the Foundation.
(B)
Any recommendations on how the Foundation may be improved.
(k)

Integrity
(1)

In general
To ensure integrity in the operations of the Foundation, the Board shall develop and enforce procedures relating to standards of conduct, financial disclosure statements, conflicts of interest (including recusal and waiver rules), audits, and any other matters determined appropriate by the Board.
(2)

Financial conflicts of interest
To mitigate conflicts of interest and risks from malign foreign influence, any individual who is an officer, employee, or member of the Board is prohibited from any participation in deliberations by the Foundation of a matter that would directly or predictably affect any financial interest of any of the following:
(A)
Such individual.
(B)
A relative of such individual.
(C)
A business organization or other entity in which such individual or relative of such individual has an interest, including an organization or other entity with which such individual is negotiating employment.
(3)

Security
This section shall be carried out in accordance with the provision of subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.; enacted as part of division B of Public Law 117–167) and section 223 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (42 U.S.C. 6605).
(l)

Intellectual property
The Board shall adopt written standards to govern the ownership and licensing of any intellectual property rights developed by the Foundation or derived from the collaborative efforts of the Foundation
(m)

Full faith and credit
The United States shall not be liable for any debts, defaults, acts, or omissions of the Foundation. The full faith and credit of the United States shall not extend to any obligations of the Foundation.
(n)

Support services
The Secretary, acting through the Director, may provide facilities, utilities, and support services to the Foundation if it is determined by the Director to be advantageous to the research programs of the Institute.
(o)

Nonapplicability
Chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to the Foundation.
(p)

Separate fund accounts
The Board shall ensure that amounts received pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (q) are held in a separate account from any other funds received by the Foundation.
(q)

Funding; authorization of appropriations
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, from amounts authorized to be appropriated for a fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2025 to the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to section 10211, the Director may transfer not less than $500,000 and not more than $1,250,000 to the Foundation each such fiscal year.
(r)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Board
The term Board means the Board of Directors of the Foundation, established pursuant to subsection (i).
(2)

Director
The term Director means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(3)

Foreign country of concern
The term foreign country of concern has the meaning given such term in section 10638 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19237; enacted as part of division B of Public Law 117–167).
(4)

Foreign entity of concern
The term foreign entity of concern has the meaning given such term in section 10638 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19237; enacted as part of division B of Public Law 117–167).
(5)

Foundation
The term Foundation means the Foundation for Standards and Metrology established pursuant to subsection (a).
(6)

Institute
The term Institute means the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(7)

Institution of higher education
The term institution of higher education has the meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
(8)

NIST associate
The term NIST associate means any guest researcher, facility user, volunteer, or other nonemployee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology who conducts research or otherwise engages in an authorized activity with National Institute of Standards and Technology personnel or at a National Institute of Standards and Technology facility.
(9)

Relative
The term relative has the meaning given such term in section 13101 of title 5, United States Code.
(10)

Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce.
(11)

Technical standard
The term technical standard has the meaning given such term in section 12(d)(5) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note).”.
(b)

Clerical amendment
The table of contents in section 1 of Public Law 117–167 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 10235 the following new item:
“Sec. 10236. Foundation for Standards and Metrology.”.
304.

Prohibition on certain policies relating to the use of artificial intelligence or other automated systems
Not later than 7 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, acting through the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall issue a technology directive with respect to artificial intelligence or other automated systems that prohibits any action, directive, rule, regulation, policy, principle, or guidance by a Federal agency that includes policies that require, recommend, promote, or encourage any of the following concepts or rules:
(1)
One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.
(2)
The United States is fundamentally racist or sexist.
(3)
An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
(4)
An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex.
(5)
Members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex.
(6)
The moral character of an individual is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex.
(7)
An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.
(8)
An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex.
(9)
Meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by a particular race to oppress another.
(10)
Artificial intelligence, algorithms, or other automated systems should be designed in an equitable way that prevents disparate impacts based on a protected class or other societal classification.
(11)
Input data used by designers, developers, or deployers of artificial intelligence, algorithms, or other automated systems should be modified to prevent disparate impacts based on a protected class or other societal classification.
(12)
Designers, developers, integrators, or deployers of artificial intelligence, algorithms, or other automated systems should conduct disparate impact or equity impact assessments prior to deployment or implementation of such technology to ensure inclusivity and equity in the creation, design, or development of the technology.
(13)
Federal agencies should review input data used by designers, developers, or deployers of artificial intelligence, algorithms, or other automated systems to ensure the technology—
(A)
meets the view of that Federal agency of what constitutes bias or misinformation; and
(B)
contains no positions contrary to the position of the Federal Government.
305.

Certifications and audits of temporary fellows
(a)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Agency
The term agency has the meaning given such term in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code.
(2)

Committees of Jurisdiction
The term committees of jurisdiction means—
(A)
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and
(B)
the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives.
(3)

Critical and emerging technologies
The term critical and emerging technologies means a subset of artificial intelligence and other critical and emerging technologies included in the list of such technologies identified and maintained by the National Science and Technology Council of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
(4)

Inherently governmental function
The term inherently governmental function has the meaning given such term in section 5 of the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–270; 31 U.S.C. 501 note) and includes the meaning given such term in subpart 7.5 of part 7 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or successor regulation.
(5)

Temporary fellow
The term temporary fellow, with respect to an agency, means a fellow, contractor, consultant, or any other person performing work for the agency who is not a Federal government employee.
(b)

Certification
(1)

In general
Prior to performing any work for an agency under this Act relating to artificial intelligence and other critical and emerging technologies, a temporary fellow and the head of the agency shall sign a certification that the temporary fellow will not perform any inherently governmental functions.
(2)

Submittal
Not later than 30 days after the date on which the head of an agency signs a certification under paragraph (1), the head of the agency shall submit a copy of the certification to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the chairpersons and ranking members of the committees of jurisdiction.
(c)

Audit
(1)

In general
For each agency using a temporary fellow to carry out this Act, the inspector general of the agency shall perform an annual audit of the use of temporary fellows by the agency, which includes—
(A)
the number of temporary fellows used by the agency;
(B)
the entities paying any temporary fellow for their work for the agency;
(C)
the work temporary fellows are performing for the agency;
(D)
the authorities under which the agency hired the temporary fellows; and
(E)
whether the temporary fellows and the agency are complying with the requirements of section (b).
(2)

Submittal to Congress
Not later than 30 days after the date on which the inspector general of an agency completes an audit under paragraph (1), the head of the agency shall submit to the chairpersons and ranking members of the committees of jurisdiction and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget a report containing the findings of inspector general with respect to the audit.
December 18 (legislative day, December 16), 2024
Reported with an amendment