The transition in Washington is underway. In the coming weeks, we will continue to hear about appointments and attention will focus on the Senate nomination process. Several nominees and appointees have already been named who will help shape tech policy in the new Administration.
Key appointees and nominees to watch include Brendan Carr as chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Andrew Ferguson as chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); and Gail Slater as the head of antitrust enforcement at the U.S. Department of Justice. All of these agency leaders could guide policies impacting AI innovation and competition, among other issues. We’ll continue to share news about the emerging tech agenda of the new Congress and Administration as it comes into focus in the months ahead.
Below, we highlight recent developments on key tech policy issues as well as a featured podcast. Thank you for reading.
This Week in Washington
- Politico: The National Defense Authorization Act—must-pass, end-of-year legislation—includes key tech investments that support innovation, IT infrastructure, and national defense. Unfortunately, the compromise bill did not include the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR), which would have expanded access to AI computing and datasets.
- Nextgov: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), cloud computing and AI are already improving the agency’s ability to predict and forecast weather events. In fact, forecasters have been able to make a “seven-year advancement in forecast capability in a matter of months using AI.”
- Washington Post: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) drafted plans to regulate the cybersecurity of telecommunications companies. If implemented, phone network operators would be warned that the FCC could pursue financial penalties against them if they do not do enough to protect their networks.
- FedScoop: Over the past year, the State Department launched a series of AI deployments as part of a push from the highest levels of the department to harness the technology for its diplomatic mission. Department workers across the world can use AI to draft emails, translate documents, analyze news stories, and more.
Article Summary
- LinkedIn: With time running out for Congress to pass tech legislation this year, Microsoft shared its support for two bipartisan proposals—the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the TAKE IT DOWN ACT, which would criminalize publication of non-consensual, sexually exploitative images, including AI generated content, and require platforms to have a takedown process.
- San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego officials are launching a new broadband master plan to minimize the city’s digital divide. Residents are being asked to take an internet speed test and an access survey to help officials understand the scope of the divide and which neighborhoods have the worst access to broadband service.
- StateScoop: The U.S. National Cyber Director and Rhode Island officials announced that all 64 of the state’s school districts agreed to implement the Protective Domain Name Service. This is a free cybersecurity service that helps thwart ransomware and other cyber attacks by preventing computer systems from connecting to dangerous areas of the internet. Rhode Island will be the first state to use this new tool.
- The Texas Tribune: Texas lawmakers may consider banning social media from minors due to school district struggles to control the spread of cyberbullying, online exploitation, and pornographic images among their students. Lawmakers have suggested several initiatives next session to address the online dangers affecting Texas children.
- WIRED: Harvard University announced that it will be releasing a high-quality dataset of nearly 1 million public-domain books that can be used by anyone to train large language models and other AI tools. The dataset was created by the University’s newly formed Institutional Data Initiative with funding from Microsoft and OpenAI. This project aims to give the public and AI startups access to the highly-refined content repositories that are usually only available to established tech giants.
Featured Podcast
- Decoder
There has been a growing discussion of the potential for artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the idea that AI systems will one day be able to handle tasks as well as a human can. In this podcast episode, the CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, shares his insights into AGI and what Microsoft is doing to reach its goals for AI. (“Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman says conversational AI is the next web browser” – December 9, 2024)