Senate Introduces Proposal for AI Education

Building a workforce educated in cutting-edge technology is essential to American innovation, competitiveness, and security. To support a workforce for the AI era, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) recently introduced the bipartisan NSF AI Education Act of 2024. This bill authorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) to award university scholarships for students to study AI and quantum computing. The bill also includes programs to advance AI education in K-12 schools and community colleges. The bill is summarized here and the full text is here. Coverage can be found in GeekWire and FedScoop.

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This Week in Washington 

Nextgov: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s Health Breach Notification Rule will soon require digital health services providers to notify their users of data breaches. 

CNN: A ransomware attack on a major hospital network is raising concerns that patients’ lives are at risk. Health care workers are sounding the alarm after another cyberattack cut off access to electronic health records, forcing them to use paper charts and making orders for drugs and lab tests harder to access, at more than 100 hospitals across 19 states earlier this month. The health care sector reported 249 ransomware attacks to the FBI last year, more than any other sector, with some cases affecting patient records. 

CyberScoop: A new bill proposed in the U.S. House would provide $20 million annually to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to develop a program promoting cybersecurity jobs to disadvantaged communities. 

FedScoop: The Department of Health and Human Services appointed Micky Tripathi as its new acting chief artificial intelligence officer, a role designated to serve as the official in charge of promoting the use of AI technology within an agency and managing its risks.

Reuters: A federal appeals court has fast-tracked consideration of TikTok’s legal challenge to a new law that would force the divestment or ban of the Chinese-owned social media platform in the U.S.

Broadband Breakfast: The NTIA Reauthorization Act mandates that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration develop a strategy for coordinating federal broadband initiatives to effectively close the digital divide.

FedScoop: Senator Mark Warner is pushing for an expansion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would include generative AI “good-faith security research.” 

Nextgov: The White House announced a year-end plan to revamp data routing systems owned and operated by federal agencies. The plan aims to prevent hackers from hijacking digital pathways into government networks. 

Article Summary

The Hill and Bloomberg: As Colorado became the first state to pass a comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, two tech-focused attorneys provide analysis and additional context on the hundreds of other state-level pieces of legislation under consideration or already signed into law, and argue that the U.S. needs federal AI laws and regulations.

The Guardian: A team of scientists and researchers at the University of South Florida’s auditory development and connectomics lab is using virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools to map billions of neurons in the developing brains of newborn mice – with the goal of applying their work to unravel mysteries in the human brain, including Alzheimer’s disease, autism and related disorders, and traumatic brain injuries.

Axios: The Electric Power Research Institute released a new report projecting that data centers will account for between 4.6% and 9.1% of U.S. electricity demand by 2030, in part due to an increased need for computing power for AI tools.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Microsoft is planning a major expansion of artificial intelligence education and job training programs in southeast Wisconsin to accompany a data center complex currently under construction there. The programs will involve upskilling non-traditional workers, training data center technicians, and providing business and tech leaders with training and tools to effectively adopt AI.

POLITICO: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is calling on the EU to set a minimum age of 15 years old for social media platform use in an effort to protect young smartphone users from claims of harmful content and screen addiction. French President Emmanuel Macron called last month for an EU-wide regulation that would let parents control access to “digital space” for minors under 16 years of age. Last year, France enacted a law that requires social platforms operating in France to gather consent from a parent or guardian before children under 15 can use their services.

Featured Podcast

POLITICO Tech
When President Joe Biden talks about artificial intelligence, he’ll often refer to the technology’s “promise and peril.” Yet much of his AI agenda to date has focused on the latter. Now, the White House is shifting focus to the “aspirational” uses of AI — a change in tone that could be complicated by the perils that remain. On POLITICO Tech, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar tells Steven Overly about Biden’s plan to “start shaping the next chapter” of AI focused on its upsides. (What Biden’s ‘next chapter’ of AI looks like – May 14, 2024)