As our news summary below makes clear, Congress is beginning to have conversations about a number of tech issues—from fighting cybercrime to data privacy to providing federal support for AI research. The question remains whether these discussions will gain momentum and lead to the enactment of new laws.
This Week in Washington
- The Hill: The House Committee on Energy and Commerce announced the creation of a data privacy working group earlier this week. The group will bring members and stakeholders together to discuss a legislative framework for a national privacy standard.
- FedScoop: Establishing an AI select committee and codifying the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) are among the top priorities for U.S. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA). He announced plans to reintroduce the Creating Resources for Every American to Experiment with Artificial Intelligence (CREATE) Act of 2023.
- Reuters: At this week’s Paris AI summit, Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. intends to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the EU’s regulatory approach. The U.S. and UK did not sign on to the summit’s declaration that AI should be inclusive, open, ethical, and safe.
- CyberScoop: A pair of senators seek to amend the U.S. criminal code on computer fraud by making the punishment for cybercrimes more harsh under a new bill called the Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act.
- FedScoop: Scale AI was selected by the U.S. AI Safety Institute as the first third-party evaluator authorized to assess AI models on its behalf. Participating companies can test their models once and, if they choose, share those results with AI safety institutes around the world.
Article Summary
- Microsoft on the Issues: Safer Internet Day is an opportunity to reflect on the state of online safety. For almost a decade, Microsoft has marked this day by releasing research on how people perceive and experience risk online. This year, in addition to sharing their research findings, Microsoft also announced new resources to empower responsible AI utilization.
- New York Times: Newspapers across the U.S. owned by the news media company Lee Enterprises were hit with a cyberattack that left papers unable to print and caused issues to websites. Lee Enterprises is the parent company of more than 400 newspapers.
- The Hill: A group of leading major technology companies have raised more than $27 million for a new initiative focused on building open-source tools to boost online safety for kids. The project, dubbed the Robust Online Safety Tools (ROOST), was announced at the AI Action Summit in Paris earlier this week.
- Bloomberg: General Electric Co. is utilizing AI to help its network of jet-engine repair shops inspect critical turbine components in narrow-body jets more efficiently.
Featured Podcast
- BBC – Tech Life
Researchers have already found that by analyzing brainwaves AI can pick out the words people are typing. Does this mean that AI can give a voice to those who can’t speak due to brain injury or illness? Jean-Rémi King, lead researcher of Meta’s Brain and AI research team based in Paris, aims to find out. Hear about the team’s key findings thus far in this podcast episode. (“Decoding the brain” – February 11, 2025)