WASHINGTON, DC (December 17, 2024) — Today, Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-04), a member of the Bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, issued the following statement after the release of the Task Force’s report on guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations, and policy proposals to ensure America continues to lead the world in responsible AI innovation.
“This report is a critical first step towards ensuring that Congress can properly address advances in emerging AI technologies and maintain a thoughtful long-term vision for AI that betters our society. During my time with the Task Force, I have been proud to champion several key priorities outlined in this report, including broadening participation in AI research, development, and education, protecting civil rights and liberties, and assessing and understanding AI’s rising environmental and energy impacts,” said Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-04). “I would like to thank our task force Co-Chairs Obernolte and Lieu for their leadership over the last year as we discussed a variety of issues across the AI ecosystem, and I look forward to continuing our efforts as we work to implement these recommendations and adapt to new challenges to come.”
The Bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence was created by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on February 20, 2024. The Task Force is led by Co-Chairs Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA), and comprises twenty-four House Members, twelve Republicans and twelve Democrats. The AI Task Force Members are drawn from twenty committees to ensure comprehensive jurisdictional responsibilities over the numerous AI issues, and to benefit from a range of different insights and perspectives.
Throughout 2024, the Bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence convened a plethora of hearings, numerous roundtables, and engaged with over one hundred experts, including business leaders, government officials, technical experts, academics, civil society, legal scholars, and other domain specialists to investigate dozens of issues at the heart of how AI intersects with numerous policy areas.
The Task Force’s report articulates guiding principles, 66 key findings, and 89 recommendations organized into 15 chapters. The report is intended to serve as a blueprint for future actions that Congress can take to address advances in AI technologies.
Priorities championed by Congresswoman Foushee in the report include:
- An entire chapter on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties which includes key findings that “improper use of AI can violate laws and deprive Americans of their civil rights” and a core consideration for Congress must be “mitigating harmful outcomes that impact Americans’ civil rights and civil liberties.” The chapter’s recommendations include having humans in the loop to identify and remedy potential flaws in AI, ensuring agencies protect against the use of AI in discriminatory decision-making, and empowering sectoral regulators to address AI-related risks.
- Key recommendations on promoting equity of access to research and capital, noting “institutions that serve rural areas and minority-serving institutions face even deeper challenges in accessing [AI] resources,” and “invest in K-12 STEM and AI Education and Broaden Participation” as the top Education and Workforce recommendation, which includes initiatives to ensure a diverse and robust AI workforce such as “improve STEM education in rural and underserved communities.”
- Calls for codifying the National AI Research Resource, or NAIRR, to connect capable but under-resourced researchers and educators to the computational data, software, and training models needed to advance AI research. The report also points to NAIRR as a potential solution to bolster U.S. AI skills by providing needed AI resources.
- Emphasis on the energy and environmental impacts of AI, noting “the carbon emissions of technology companies are soaring,” and recommending the U.S. plan now to achieve “climate and emissions goals,” including through “strengthen[ing] efforts to track and project AI data center power usage.”
- 15 Chapters relating to Government Use, Federal Preemption of State Law, Data Privacy, National Security, Research & Development and Standards, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Education and Workforce, Intellectual Property, Content Authenticity, Open and Closed Systems, Energy Usage and Data Centers, Small Business, Agriculture, Healthcare, and Financial Services.
The full report released by the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence can be found here. You can watch the press conference discussing the release of the Task Force’s report here.