Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Senate Commerce Committee fault lines around AI regulation are set to come into focus during a markup on Wednesday.
Why it matters: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is adamant about approaching AI in a bipartisan manner and the upper chamber to date has led on legislative efforts.
- Now that the nitty gritty work has reached committees, starker differences are emerging and time is running out to be productive before the election.
State of play: Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell and Ranking Member Ted Cruz are negotiating which bills will make it in the markup and what changes should be made to them, an industry source said.
- Cruz has filed dozens of amendments, which could eat up hours of time other senators don't want to waste, the source added.
- The markup has already been delayed multiple times due to policy and scheduling conflicts.
One Cruz amendment would strike and replace the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act.
- The Future of AI Innovation Act, sponsored by Cantwell and Sen. Todd Young, would authorize NIST's U.S. AI Safety Institute.
- A slew of tech companies big and small support the AI Safety Institute.
What's inside: The amendment, which has no co-sponsors, would implement a 10-year moratorium on AI regulations included in the AI executive order or the AI Bill of Rights, as well as any similar documents.
- The White House would have to prohibit federal agencies from engaging in anything having to do with the concepts that the "the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist."
- Congress would have to approve all major AI rules issued by the Commerce Department.
A senior Senate Republican aide said there is evidence of Big Tech regulatory capture in the Biden administration's approach to AI regulation, pointing to people hired to work in the government who previously had jobs in the tech industry.
What's next: The committee is set to gather Wednesday at 10am ET to markup the Future of AI Innovation Act and a number of other AI and telecoms bills.
- Also on the agenda are the CREATE AI Act, Future of AI Innovation Act, the TEST AI Act, the AI Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act and the VET Act.
- On the telecoms front, senators plan to take up the Rural Broadband Protection Act, the NET Act and the PLAN for Broadband Act.
- Cruz's bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act will also be considered.
