AI policy has a lot of cooks

• In Europe, negotiations are underway to finalize the AI Act, the world's first democratically negotiated rules around AI based on risk category, Axios reported Thursday.
• U.S. leadership on the global stage will require cohesive governance at home, but it's still very much in the learning stages, and government agencies are figuring out how their current rules and policies will pertain to AI.

State of play: A spokesperson said President Biden has pushed his administration to work urgently on AI issues and that the White House is overseeing an effort to "rapidly drive new decisive actions of critical AI issues," building on steps already taken.

Around the government: The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology released in January its AI Risk Management Framework, a voluntary guide to improving the trustworthiness of the technology that it began putting together in July 2021.

• In October 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights — more voluntary guidance — and has since announced multiple executive actions on AI, holding meetings with top companies involved in its development.
• The White House just announced a new head of the AI portfolio at OSTP, Wade Shen, and the Office of Management and Budget is gearing up to release guidance on the use of AI by the government.
• The National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Monday wrapped up gathering input for AI regulatory guidance.
• Other agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Education Department, have weighed in on the specific-use cases of their jurisdiction.

On Capitol Hill, senators are grappling with which committee will have jurisdiction over the technology. In the meantime, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has kicked off a series of briefings with the goal of passing AI bills.

• "The practical side of it is we need to figure out who takes the lead in the Senate and in the House as far as laying out the different ideas, assembling them, and putting in legislation," Senator Mike Rounds said during an Amazon Web Services summit last week.

What they're saying: “It raises the question of who’s in charge. There is a lack of cohesion and there is a fear that it’s going to continue to get worse," one industry source said.

• "Agencies have to fight for resources and staffing and none of them want to sit idly by. The FCC is not going to let NTIA own AI ... So maybe they [FCC] say we should look into it too and take jurisdiction over it.”

• Another industry source contended the White House has shown some centralized leadership, but noted that "it's not so easy to just say, 'Oh, that one agency or that one person is in charge.'"
• Tom Romanoff, director of tech policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, compares the AI situation to the early days of the internet, which ended up with more than 18 agencies having some authority over it.
• "That's because no one really knew who had center lead on regulating this new technology, and something similar is happening here," he said.

The other side: "In moments like this, the more fulsome the conversation, the better," Chandler Morse, vice president of corporate affairs at software company Workday, told Axios, adding that he hasn't seen much of a "turf war" between agencies.

• "The waterfront of AI policy is wide. It makes sense there are a lot of different actors involved ... I think it's better than not."
• Policymakers "feel like they made a mistake with social media," Karen Kornbluh, managing director of the German Marshall Fund's Digital initiative, told Axios. "I'm pleased it's being taken seriously. Lawmakers are stepping into the fray in a way I didn't see with social media."

The bottom line: In the U.S., there's a lot of emphasis on how existing laws apply to new technology, so agencies have a head start on getting involved in the conversation.

• But AI is so huge that new rules are inevitable too, and while Congress is animated, action will still be slow.