Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Congress is in a holding pattern for AI policy as members try to decipher signals from the White House about its plans for the rapidly developing tech.
Why it matters: A more hands-off approach to AI was expected with the Republican sweep of Congress, but basic, bipartisan goals are on hold while the Trump administration targets tech and science agencies for cuts.
The big picture: Last Congress, members made lofty promises on passing AI legislation and funding, but failed to deliver any big legislative package.
- Momentum for that work has come to an abrupt halt amid the threat of agency firings and funding cuts.
State of play: NIST employees, particularly in the AI Safety Institute and CHIPS offices, are bracing for firings. Layoffs across the Commerce Department have started, including in the International Trade Office and at the CHIPS program office, per a source close to Commerce.
- It seems for now people working on the technical side may be spared, which would include AISI employees, all of whom have technical expertise, per sources familiar.
- AISI is continuing to do work around national security issues with frontier models and no companies have withdrawn from their voluntary commitments, sources added.
What we're watching: Some of the decisions around NIST staffing and Commerce cuts are set to collide with the March 14 government shutdown deadline.
- A Trump executive order also requires the national security adviser to review all national security memos issued during the Biden administration.
- That's due by March 6, and would include a Biden EO that established AISI as the "primary" U.S. government "point of contact with private sector AI developers to facilitate voluntary pre- and post-public deployment testing for safety, security, and trustworthiness of frontier AI models."
- Some Republicans on the Hill, such as Sens. Todd Young, Mike Rounds and Jerry Moran, have pushed back against gutting the agency, sources said.
Few AI bills have been introduced this Congress, and key ones to authorize or rename AISI have not been introduced at all.
- Young said last year he plans to reintroduce his bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act, even if it requires changing the AISI's name or editing the legislation "to accommodate the needs or concerns of anyone."
- But for now, Young is holding off on reintroducing the bill until the administration's plan is clear, and has expressed openness to changing AISI in a way that fits with any new plans, a Young spokesman said.
- Sen. John Hickenlooper, a co-sponsor of that bill, said in a statement that "weakening NIST will threaten America's innovation in AI and cede ground to China."
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz killed the bill last year, contending it was a way for the Biden administration to over-regulate AI.
- "Sen. Cruz supports President Trump's actions to refocus America's critical AI mission," Christian McMullen, spokesperson for Cruz and committee Republicans said in a statement, adding that they view AISI as built on an "alarmist notion that AI is 'unsafe.'"
- In the House, Rep. Jay Obernolte has not yet reintroduced legislation to re-name AISI. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
