Twenty-four members of Congress released on Wednesday their report on their work to develop a U.S. vision for responsible artificial intelligence innovation that accounts for appropriate guardrails to safeguard against current and emerging threats.
With 66 key findings, the lawmakers offered 89 recommendations to create a “carefully designed, durable policy framework” based on an approach that they said balances innovation but can safeguard American citizens from potential harm under widespread adoption of AI.
Far from the final word on AI issues from Congress, the lawmakers said their findings and recommendations should be viewed as a tool for identifying and evaluating AI policy proposals going forward. 
“It is unreasonable to expect Congress to enact legislation this year that could serve as its last word on AI policy,” the lawmakers said in the report.
Instead, Congress should adopt an “agile approach that allows us to respond appropriately and in a targeted, achievable manner that benefits from all available evidence and insights.”
Lawmakers must continue to learn about AI to “regularly evaluate the effectiveness of its policies and update them as AI technologies and their impacts evolve” if the United States is going to lead in AI development and drive a global vision for AI public policy, they said in the new blueprint.
The AI Task Force, which launched in February, includes 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats led by co-chair Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-California, and Ted Lieu, D-California. The lawmakers said in the 253-page report that they convened regularly to gather information on AI issues from more than 100 domain experts in industry, government, civil society and academia.
The overarching policy goals are identifying AI issue novelty, promoting AI innovation, protecting against AI risks and harms, empowering government with AI, affirming the use of a sectoral regulatory structure, taking an incremental approach and keeping humans at the center of AI policy, according to the report.
It offers recommendations for government use of AI; 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 on open and closed AI systems; energy usage and grid reliability; and small business and specific sectors – agriculture, healthcare and financial services.
The lawmakers also said they support sector-specific policies for an agile and focused approach to AI policy and leveraging sector-specific regulatory expertise within federal agencies and other parts of government to use their existing authority to respond to AI use within their domains.
“This would enable more informed and efficient engagement between federal agencies and entities utilizing AI,” lawmakers said. “Agency expertise should remain focused on where it can be most effective.”
In addition to support for sector-based regulation of AI, they call for increased federal investments in scientific research that enables innovations in AI hardware, algorithmic efficiency, energy technology development and energy infrastructure.
Regulators would also benefit from drawing upon a federal repository of AI resources, such as AI-ready data and computing hardware, the lawmakers said. Thus, they stated continued investment in federal research and development.
“Congress will need to continue federal R&D efforts, supporting AI evaluations and bolstering U.S. standardization efforts for AI,” the lawmakers said.
To protect civil rights, the lawmakers recommended empowering sector regulators with “tools and expertise to address AI-related risks in their domains.”
For the healthcare sector, they acknowledged that AI technologies have the potential to improve multiple aspects of healthcare research, diagnosis and care delivery.
“AI can quickly analyze large data sets, improve diagnostic accuracy, streamline operations and automate routine tasks, all of which have the potential to improve efficiency and efficacy in treatment and reduce burdens on healthcare practitioners, freeing up more time for patient care,” the Bipartisan AI Taskforce said.
But, continual evolution of AI capabilities and integration in critical health systems have also raised new policy issues, they cautioned.
“Some of the most prominent challenges involve data availability and quality, incomplete or inaccurate responses, non-individualized recommendations, decision transparency, data privacy and cybersecurity, interoperability between existing systems and AI, liability for errors made or enabled by AI models and biased decision-making as well as the deployment of these models in a way that promotes financial gain over patient care and safety,” they said.
Their key findings for the healthcare sector are:
- AI’s use in healthcare can potentially reduce administrative burdens and speed up drug development and clinical diagnosis.
- The lack of ubiquitous, uniform standards for medical data and algorithms impedes system interoperability and data sharing.
Their recommendations for the healthcare sector are:
- Encourage the practices needed to ensure AI in healthcare is safe, transparent and effective.
- Maintain robust support for healthcare research related to AI.
- Create incentives and guidance to encourage risk management of AI technologies in healthcare across various deployment conditions to support AI adoption and improve privacy, enhance security and prevent disparate health outcomes.
- Support the development of standards for liability related to AI issues.
- Support appropriate payment mechanisms without stifling innovation.
The bipartisan congressional blueprint for AI also includes a number of resources, including a full overview of federal research and development efforts in AI, a list from the House AI Task Force encouraging lawmakers and future congresses to continue to investigate 15 opportunities and challenges related to AI, and an overview of the adoption and use of AI in various healthcare modalities.
Because rapid advancements could transform the economy and national security, congressional leaders developed the taskforce to create a policy roadmap.
“Developing a bipartisan vision for AI adoption, innovation and governance is no easy task, but a necessary one as we look to the future of AI and ensure Americans see real benefits from this technology,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement this week.
“The members of the Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence worked hard over the past year developing a report that is serious, sober and substantive in nature,” added Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “I’m encouraged by the completion of the report and hopeful it will be instructive for enlightened legislative action moving forward.”
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
