Exclusive: Senators revive bipartisan AI innovation bill
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Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on Thursday will reintroduce a bill aimed at cementing U.S. leadership in AI.
Why it matters: With foreign rivals investing aggressively in AI and emerging tech, lawmakers are searching for ways to reinforce the U.S. edge.
The Future of AI Innovation Act would authorize the Center for AI Standards and Innovation to develop voluntary AI standards, benchmarks and transparency guidelines with industry, according to a release shared first with Axios.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last year rebranded the U.S. AI Safety Institute to CAISI to reflect the administration's move away from AI safety toward encouraging explosive growth of the tech.
- CAISI, which is housed within the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, is meant to serve as industry's main point of contact on AI testing and collaborative research.
The legislation would create new testbeds with national labs to try to accelerate breakthroughs in AI and emerging tech such as quantum computing and robotics.
- It would also set up grand challenge prize competitions for researchers, expand public access to federal datasets, and form an international coalition with allies on AI standards and R&D.
Flashback: Cantwell and Young first introduced the Future of AI Innovation Act in 2024 alongside Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), with broad industry support.
- The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the measure that year, and lawmakers had hoped to attach it to must-pass legislation.
- But the legislation didn't make it onto the annual defense policy bill that year amid pushback from a few Senate Republicans, including now-Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
What they're saying: "One of my top priorities for federal AI policy is to ensure these technologies are developed in a manner that reflects American values and supports U.S. innovation," Young said in a statement.
- This bill "will accelerate new advancements while helping companies and consumers better use AI in a safe and secure manner," Cantwell said.
