[Senate Report 117-270]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 669
117th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 117-270
_______________________________________________________________________
ADVANCING AMERICAN AI ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1353
TO PROMOTE UNITED STATES VALUES AND FULFILL
AGENCY MISSIONS THROUGH THE USE OF INNOVATIVE
APPLIED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
December 19, 2022.--Ordered to be printed
_________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
39-010 WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia RICK SCOTT, Florida
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
Michelle M. Benecke, Senior Counsel
Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
Sam J. Mulopulos, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 669
117th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 117-270
======================================================================
ADVANCING AMERICAN AI ACT
_______
December 19, 2022.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Peters, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1353]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1353), to promote
United States values and fulfill agency missions through the
use of innovative applied artificial intelligence technologies,
and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon with an amendment, in the nature of a
substitute, and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary.............................................. 1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation.......................... 2
III. Legislative History.............................................. 2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported............. 3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................. 5
VI. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 5
I. Purpose and Summary
S. 1353, the Advancing American AI Act, seeks to bolster
the security and competitiveness of the United States. The bill
requires specified federal agencies to rapidly deploy and scale
leading edge, commercially proven artificial intelligence (AI).
The bill emphasizes the use of entrepreneurial AI developed in
the United States to solve challenges that require
collaboration across agencies and data sources. Further, the
bill requires agencies to inventory and publish AI use cases to
inform leaders, the public, and those wishing to do business
with the government about common challenges. The bill
establishes mechanisms to guide the acquisition and use of AI
in government and safeguard privacy, civil rights, and civil
liberties.
II. Background and Need for the Legislation
The race to research, develop, and deploy AI and associated
technologies underpins a wider strategic competition. The
United States still retains advantages in critical areas, but
current trends are concerning. Experts have expressed concern
about the capability of near-peer competitors, especially
China, to surpass the United States as the world's leader in AI
in the next decade if current trends do not change.\1\ At stake
are the goals and values to which AI system development and AI
system behavior are aligned. At this critical juncture, the
United States must leverage its strengths of innovation and
entrepreneurialism to develop AI systems that are aligned with
American values such as freedom of speech and assembly, and
upholding privacy and civil liberties--values shared by most
democracies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Final
Report, at 11 (Mar. 1, 2021) (www.nscai.gov/2021-final-report/).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To remain the world's leader in AI, the federal government
must renew its commitment to investing in innovation.
Innovation must be supported in the private and academic
sectors, but also within the federal government. Many AI
solutions used by federal agencies involve machine learning
models built for one use case at a time with curated datasets.
These models work for some applications, but are limited in
addressing many cross-agency requirements. By leveraging
breakthroughs by United States entrepreneurs to improve federal
government missions and processes, this bill would, for
example, enable agencies to work across organizational
boundaries more quickly, with less dependence on manual data
cleansing and standardization, and find innovative solutions to
efficient and effective governing.
S. 1353 advances United States interests by leveraging our
nation's strengths of innovation, entrepreneurialism, and
democratic values.
III. Legislative History
Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced S. 1353 on April 22,
2021. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) joined as a cosponsor on May
12, 2021. The bill was referred to the Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The Committee considered S. 1353 at a business meeting on
May 12, 2021. During the meeting, a substitute amendment that
added clarifying language and technical edits was offered by
Chairman Peters and adopted by unanimous consent as modified.
An amendment to add the GOOD Act (S.628) onto the bill was
offered by Senator Johnson (R-WI), and was not adopted.
Senators Johnson, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, and Hawley
voted in the affirmative. Senators Peters, Carper, Hassan,
Sinema, Rosen, Padilla, Ossoff, and Portman voted in the
negative.
The Committee ordered the bill reported favorably as
amended by the modified Peters substitute amendment by a roll
call vote of 11 yeas to 3 nays. Senators Peters, Carper,
Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, Padilla, Ossoff, Portman, Lankford,
Romney, and Scott voted in the affirmative. Senators Johnson,
Paul, and Hawley voted in the negative.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section provides that the bill may be cited as the
``Advancing American AI Act.''
Section 2. Purpose
This section provides that the purposes of this bill are to
encourage artificial intelligence-related programs and
initiatives at agencies, enhance the ability of the federal
government to translate research advances into artificial
intelligence applications, promote government-wide adoption of
modernized business practices and advanced technologies, and
test and harness applied artificial intelligence to enhance
mission effectiveness and business practice efficiency.
Section 3. Definitions
This section defines the terms ``agency,'' ``appropriate
congressional committees,'' ``artificial intelligence,''
``artificial intelligence system,'' and ``Department.''
Section 4. Principles and policies for use of Artificial Intelligence
in Government
The first part of this section references the AI in
Government Act passed by the Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee in the 116th Congress and enacted into law
last year as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2021.\2\ When the OMB Director issues guidance for use of AI
that is required under the AI in Government Act,\3\ the
Director must also consider the ``Key Considerations and
Practices'' published in April 2021 by the National Security
Commission on Artificial Intelligence, the principles
articulated in the Trump Administration's December 2020
Executive Order related to the use of trustworthy AI in
government, and the input of other enumerated councils and
experts.\4\
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\2\Pub. L. No. 116-260, Division U, Title I (2020).
\3\Id.
\4\National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Final
Report (Mar. 1, 2021) (www.nscai.gov/2021-final-report/); Exec. Order
No. 13960, 85 Fed. Reg. 78939 (Dec. 3, 2020).
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Second, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) is required to issue policies for use of AI at
DHS within 180 days of the Act's enactment, in consultation
with other specified DHS officials. This includes policies
pertaining to AI acquisition, as well as considerations for the
privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties impacts of AI-
enabled systems and security against misuse of these systems.
If additional staffing or funding resources are required to
carry out this work, the Chief Privacy Officer and the Officer
for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at DHS are required to
submit a report to Congress regarding these needs.
Third, the DHS Inspector General is required to assess, not
later than 180 days after enactment, training and investments
that are needed to advance the understanding of AI by employees
to ensure the integrity of audits and investigations and guard
against bias in the selection and conduct of audits and
investigations.
Fourth, the OMB Director, working with interagency
councils, is required to develop a means by which to ensure
that federal contracts for the acquisition of an AI system or
service address the protection of privacy, civil rights, civil
liberties, and the security and ownership of government
information. The Director is required to consult with the
Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Director of
National Intelligence when developing this strategy, to update
it regularly, and to brief the appropriate congressional
committees on it within 90 days of this Act's enactment.
Finally, there is a sunset clause of five years from
enactment.
Section 5. Agency inventories and artificial intelligence use cases
This section requires OMB and agency heads to inventory AI
use cases, share use cases across agencies, and make these
inventories available to the public. These inventories must be
prepared within 60 days of the Act's enactment, and maintained
continuously for five years.
The OMB Director is encouraged to establish a central,
online public directory to make use cases available to the
public and those wishing to do business with the federal
government.
There is a sunset clause of five years from enactment.
Section 6. Rapid pilot, deployment and scale of applied artificial
intelligence capabilities to demonstrate modernization
activities related to use cases
This section requires the OMB Director, along with relevant
interagency councils, to identify and pilot four new use cases
to apply AI in support of interagency or intra-agency
modernization initiatives that require linking multiple siloed
data sources within 270 days of the Act's enactment.
The Director must ensure that the pilots leverage
commercially available technologies and systems to support the
use cases. Priority for selection of pilots goes to those that
would benefit from privacy-preserving AI or otherwise take into
account considerations of civil rights and civil liberties.
Of the four use case pilots, at least one must drive agency
productivity and efficiency in predictive supply chain and
logistics (e.g., predictive logistics for disaster response),
and at least one must address management challenges, such as
workforce upskilling, tasks requiring laborious analysis,
compliance, or portfolio management.
Within three years, the Director and agencies are required,
in each of the four pilot programs, to establish an AI
capability that enables collaboration across agencies and
leapfrogs the current need for manual scrubbing and
harmonization of data.
There are reporting requirements throughout, and there is a
sunset clause of five years after enactment.
Section 7. Enabling entrepreneurs and agency missions
This section seeks to facilitate the ability of agencies to
appropriately acquire entrepreneurial AI capabilities.
The section amends Section 880 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 to extend General
Services Administration (GSA) and DHS authority to use
commercial solutions opening pilot program procedures through
2027, increase the dollar threshold for use of the authority
from $10 million to $25 million, and revise definitions to
align with revised statutory definitions of commercial products
and services. This section also extends DHS other transaction
authority to carry out research and development and prototype
projects through 2024.
Finally, the section encourages GSA to pilot commercial off
the shelf supply chain risk management tools to improve the
ability of the federal government to characterize, monitor,
predict, and respond to supply chain threats and
vulnerabilities using applied entrepreneurial AI.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
UNITED STATES CODE
* * * * * * *
TITLE 41--PUBLIC CONTRACTS
* * * * * * *
Subtitle I-- Federal Procurement Policy
* * * * * * *
Division C--Procurement
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 33--PLANNING AND SOLICITATION
* * * * * * *
SEC. 3301. FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION.
* * * * * * *
EDITORIAL NOTES
* * * * * * *
PILOT PROGRAMS FOR AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE INNOVATIVE COMERCIAL ITEMS
USING GENERAL SOLICITATION COMPETITIVE PROCEDURES
(a) * * *
(b) * * *
(c) Limitation.--The head of an agency may not enter into a
contract under the pilot program for an amount in excess of
[$10,000,000] $25,000,000.
(d) * * *
(e) * * *
(f) [Innovative Defined.--In this section, the term
`innovative' means--
(1) any new technology, process, or method, including
research and development; or
(2) any new application of an existing technology,
process, or method.]
Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term `commercial product'--
(A) has the meaning given the term
`commercial item' in section 2.101 of the
Federal Acquisition Regulation; and
(B) includes a commercial product or a
commercial service, as defined in sections 103
and 103a, respectively, of title 41, United
States Code; and
(2) the term `innovative' means--
(A) any new technology, process, or method,
including research and development; or
(B) any new application of an existing
technology, process, or method.
(g) Termination.--The authority to enter into a contract
under a pilot program under this section terminates on
September 30, [2022] 2027.
HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002
* * * * * * *
TITLE VIII--COORDINATION WITH NON-FEDERAL ENTITIES; INSPECTOR GENERAL;
UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE; COAST GUARD; GENERAL PROVISIONS
* * * * * * *
Subtitle D--Acquisitions
* * * * * * *
SEC. 831. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.
(a) Authority.--Until [September 30, 2017] September 30,
2024, and subject to subsection (d), the Secretary may carry
out a pilot program under which the Secretary may exercise the
following authorities:
(1) * * *
(2) Prototype projects.--[The Secretary may, under
the authority of paragraph (1), carry out prototype
projects in accordance with the requirements and
conditions provided for carrying out prototype projects
under section 845 of the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (PUBLIC LAW 103-160). In
applying the authorities of that section 845,
subsection (c) of that section shall apply with respect
to prototype projects under this paragraph, and the
Secretary shall perform the functions of the Secretary
of Defense under subsection (d) thereof.]
The Secretary--
(A) may, under the authority of paragraph
(1), carry out prototype projects under section
2371b of title 10, United States Code; and
(B) in applying the authorities of such
section 2371b, the Secretary shall perform the
functions of the Secretary of Defense as
prescribed in such section.
(b) * * *
(c) Additional Requirements
(1) In general.--The authority of the Secretary under
this section shall terminate [September 30, 2017]
September 30, 2024, unless before that date the
Secretary--
(A) * * *
(B) * * *
(2) * * *
(d) Definition of Nontraditional Government Contractor
In this section, the term ``nontraditional Government
contractor'' has the same meaning as the term
``nontraditional defense contractor'' as defined in
[section 845(e) of the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (PUBLIC LAW 103-160; 10 U.S.C.
2371 note)] section 2371b(e) of title 10, United States
Code.
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