Following Historic AI Insight Forums Over the Past Year, Heinrich, Colleagues Reveal Bipartisan Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the United States Senate

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, co-chair and co-founder of the Senate Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus, alongside the Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group comprised of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), released a roadmap for the development of legislation on artificial intelligence. A one-pager on the roadmap can be found here. The AI roadmap can be found here.

The policy roadmap summarizes the findings of the Working Group and lays out policy topics that the group believe merit urgent bipartisan considerationby Congress. Ultimately, it is the intention of this group that this roadmap stimulates new policy development, while building on the many AI initiatives already undertaken and ongoing at the federal level.

“In the midst of rapid AI advancements, the Senate can lead or be led. We plan to lead, to deliver for the American people, helping ensure that AI comes as a benefit to society, not a threat,” said Heinrich, co-founder and co-chair of the Senate AI Caucus. “This roadmap positions us to unlock AI innovation that will deliver major scientific and medical advancements and help maintain our global leadership. Most importantly, the roadmap lays out the guardrails necessary to mitigate the risks of AI — from blocking corporations from trying to use American’s data against them, to safeguarding the work of creative professionals and protecting workers’ jobs by preventing the automation of tasks that only should be done by humans. Now it’s time for the Senate to act on these recommendations.”

“No technology offers more promise to our modern world than artificial intelligence. But AI also presents a host of new policy challenges. Harnessing the potential of AI demands an all-hands-on-deck approach and that’s exactly what our bipartisan AI working group has been leading,” said Leader Schumer. “After talking to advocates, critics, academics, labor groups, civil rights leaders, stakeholders, developers, and more, our working group was able to identify key areas of policy that have bipartisan consensus. Now, the work continues with our Committees, Chairmen, and Ranking Members to develop and advance legislation with urgency and humility.”

“Artificial intelligence is already changing our world as we know it,” said Rounds. “After hosting nine AI Insight Forums to educate ourselves and our colleagues, we have created a first-of-its-kind AI roadmap highlighting specific topics we believe Congress should address. This roadmap to the future of AI sets the stage as we seek to harness its power to bring greater prosperity to the American people while also mitigating potential long-term risks. I look forward to seeing how my colleagues use their policy expertise in each committee to address these issues through regular order. We have a real opportunity to shape its future, and we need to embrace this challenge with open arms.” 

“The rapid pace of AI innovation brought this bipartisan working group together to consider how policymakers can ensure the incredible and promising aspects of AI are able to flourish while guarding against its risks,” said Young. “This roadmap represents the most comprehensive and impactful bipartisan recommendations on artificial intelligence ever issued by the legislative branch. Our goal is to ensure the United States maintains its leadership in AI innovation, enabling the American people to reap the substantial national security, economic, and societal benefits of an AI-driven future.”

The roadmap follows months of discussion, hundreds of stakeholder meetings, and nine first-of-their-kind, all-Senator AI Insight Forums.

A one-pager detailing the roadmap can be found here.

The Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy can be found here.

Heinrich leadership on AI:

Heinrich is among leading lawmakers in Congress spearheading bipartisan efforts on responsible AI policy. He is the co-founder and co-chair of the Senate Bipartisan AI Caucus, which he established with former Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) in 2019. The Caucus aims to keep the United States at the forefront of responsible AI innovation while maintaining important ethical, safety, and privacy standards.  

This Congress, Heinrich has maintained a lead role on Leader Schumer’s bipartisan AI working group to help shape policy centered around addressing the risks and harnessing the opportunities of AI.

Heinrich has led a number of successful policy initiatives on AI.

In 2020, Heinrich helped secure the most significant advancements for AI ever. The FY21 National Defense Authorization Act included a modified version of his Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act, a national strategy aimed at bolstering U.S. leadership in AI research and development. This legislation also included the bipartisan National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act to establish National AI Research Institutes at universities across the country.  

Additionally, Heinrich helped pass the Artificial Intelligence for the Armed Forces Act to advance the Department of Defense’s AI capabilities. He also helped provide the Pentagon with enhanced hiring authorities to recruit more AI professionals and other personnel with computational skills relevant to military applications.  

Heinrich worked to establish the National AI Research Resource Task Force (NAIRR) to develop a detailed roadmap for the development of a national AI resource for AI research and convened a group of technical experts across academia, government, and industry to develop a detailed roadmap for how the United States can build, deploy, govern, and sustain a national research cloud and associated research resources.  

A recommendation to establish the NAIRR came from the final report of the National Security Commission on AI, and work done by Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) significantly advanced the concept. Last January, the NAIRR Task Force released its final report with a roadmap for standing up a national research infrastructure that would broaden access to the resources essential to AI research and development.

Last July, Heinrich introduced the CREATE AI Act, legislation that implements many of the recommendations of the NAIRR Task Force, providing AI researchers and students with greater access to the complex resources, data, and tools needed to develop safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence.