October 21, 2024
This week decoded
With the U.S. general election in 15 days, Congressional leaders are beginning to consider in earnest what can be accomplished during the lame duck session after November 12. Emerging tech-related policies have the potential to be included in an end-of-year spending package or the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Politico reported “Congressional leaders in the House and Senate are privately negotiating a deal to address increasing concerns about artificial intelligence, and they’re hoping to move a bill in the lame-duck period.” The contents of any deal likely depend on the results of the election and ability to reach bipartisan agreement on specifics.
Within the executive agencies, OMB published an RFI on risks related to federal agency collection and use of PII. The Labor Department released best practice principles for employers deploying AI. GSA announced Login.org will offer facial recognition. In addition, multiple agencies announced new internal AI initiatives and highlighted successes with AI-enabled projects
Congress
Hearings
- Congress is in recess until November 15.
Legislation
- Congress is in recess until November 15.
Correspondence
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) led a letter with over 30 lawmakers to President Biden proposing additional executive actions to lower the cost of housing, including building on the “FTC’s recent efforts to fight algorithmic price fixing and collusion by landlords in the rental market.” (Letter)
- Reps. Deborah Ross (D-NC), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Nikema Williams (G-GA), and Wiley Nickel (D-NC) sent a letter to the CEOs of Facebook/Meta, Instagram, X, Discord, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat requesting they improve processes to counter harmful misinformation related to disaster relief, including algorithms that identify harmful content. (Letter)
Biden-Harris Administration
White House, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
- OMB published a request for information from the public on issues and risks related to federal agency collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, and disposition of commercially available information (CAI) containing personally identifiable information (PII). The deadline for public comment is December 16.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- The FTC issued its annual report to Congress on agency actions to protect older Americans. The report includes discussions of cryptocurrency-related fraud, scams, and investment losses. (Report)
Treasury Department
- Treasury announced it used enhanced fraud detection processes, including machine learning, to prevent and recover over $4 billion in improper payments in Fiscal Year 2024. (Press release)
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- FBI and CISA issued a joint public service announcement entitled “Just So You Know: Foreign Threat Actors Likely to Use a Variety of Tactics to Develop and Spread Disinformation During the 2024 U.S. General Election Cycle,” highlighting the use of generative AI by foreign actors to spread disinformation in the 2024 U.S. election. (PSA)
U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC)
- OSC released a policy governing the use of artificial intelligence within the agency. The policy includes “an inventory for current and future covered AI ‘use cases’ at the agency, adopted review procedures for the safe deployment of new covered AI tools, and designated a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) to oversee agency practices.” (Press release)(Policy)
Labor Department
- The Labor Department released best practice principles for employers deploying AI and held a virtual event with Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and leaders from labor and business on “Worker Well-Being and AI: Putting Principles into Practice.” (Principles)
General Services Administration (GSA)
- GSA announced Login.org, the single sign-on platform that provides authentication and identity verification to government agencies, will offer facial recognition technology “to confirm that a live selfie taken by a user matches the photo on a photo ID.” (Press release)
Department of Defense (DOD)
- DOD released a final rule establishing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program to verify contractors implement required cybersecurity measures. DOD also released a guide to a new Artifact Hashing Tool (Hashing guide)(Rule)
Noteworthy Quotes and Events
Administration
Department of Energy (DOE)
- Speaking at Amazon’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia about the growing power demand of AI data centers, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said, “We laid our cards on the table. We want these data centers to be built in the United States for a variety of reasons, including national security. … And we know we need additional power to be able to do that — and we want that power to be clean power.” (PoliticoPro)
Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
- FedScoop reported that the FBI is using an AI algorithmic system called the “Complaint Lead Value Probability” to prioritize tips. The report cites DOJ’s AI Inventory that the “Threat Intake Processing System (TIPS) database uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to accurately identify, prioritize, and process actionable tips in a timely manner.” And “The AI used in this case helps to triage immediate threats in order to help FBI field offices and law enforcement respond to the most serious threats first. Based on the algorithm score, highest priority tips are first in the queue for human review.” (FedScoop)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Speaking about CBP’s use of generative AI at a Google Public Sector Summit, CBP director of infrastructure and support services Mark James said, “We’re sprawling in the entire AI space. Actually, we can’t keep up with the use cases that we’re seeing.” (FedScoop)
Department of Defense (DOD)
- Jennifer Swanson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Data, Engineering and Software, announced the launch of a pilot called #CalibrateAI intended to use generative AI to simplify repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Swanson said, “By using off-the-shelf AI tools and leveraging cross-service authority-to-operate reciprocity granted by DoD CIO, #CalibrateAI will explore how we increase productivity while enhancing the accuracy of information. The ability to query curated document sets for generating new content, along with providing citations, will ensure that our outputs are not only accurate but also easily fact-checked.” (Press release)
- Lt. Gen. Anthony Hale, deputy chief of staff G2, said at an AUSA conference, “We are drowning in data. I see data as both a challenge but also an opportunity. That’s essentially what AI is for our Army. It’s an opportunity. AI presents opportunities for progress more than any other technology we have seen in the last few decades.” (FedScoop)
- On the same topic at the AUSA conference, Andrew Evans, the director of the Army’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Task Force, said, “One of our key missions in the intel enterprise in terms of transformation, is figuring out how to leverage artificial intelligence to attack that data in the right ways, impactful ways and ethical ways, things that you have to consider when you do the data piece. AI is going to be a big focus for us moving forward. We could put a million humans against that and the data will always grow at an astronomical rate, beyond what the humans can do.” (FedScoop)
Congress
- Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) published an op-ed in U.S. News and World Report calling for Congress to pass his bipartisan NO FAKES Act, cosponsored with Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), to establish safeguards against unauthorized AI-generated deepfakes, misinformation, and disinformation. (Op-ed)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) highlighted a Wall Street Journal editorial on SpaceX in tweeting, “Renewed space travel is among stunning technological advances that include genomics and artificial intelligence.”
- Cornyn also retweeted a Financial Times article titled “Google orders small modular nuclear reactors for its data centres.”
- Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) tweeted, “I’ve partnered with Rep. Haley Stevens to introduce the EPIC Act, which will ensure that the National Institute for Standards and Technology has the resources it needs to support the development of emerging technologies in fields like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity – all at no additional cost to the American taxpayer.”
- Obernolte also tweeted, “The AI Grand Challenges Act will ensure the U.S. continues to lead in artificial intelligence research and development across critical sectors in our economy. By incentivizing breakthroughs, we are paving the way for transformative advancements that will harness the incredible potential of AI to solve some of our nation’s most pressing challenges.”
- Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) tweeted, “Artificial intelligence is changing our economy and workforce, and women are, of course, leading the way! I’m always excited to speak with women leaders in tech & AI who are trailblazing the AI space while creating opportunities for other women to thrive.”
- Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) tweeted, “I met with Chris from GIODELL today to discuss how they’re converting recaptured energy from data mining centers to electricity and how the industry is growing in North Texas.”
About Zero One Strategies
Zero One Strategies is a boutique government relations practice dedicated to navigating the complex landscape of U.S. federal policy in emerging technologies. As advancements in technology continue to outpace regulatory frameworks, Zero One Strategies aims to provide strategic guidance and bipartisan advocacy for innovators and businesses operating at the forefront of technological development.
The practice focuses on key areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, decentralized technologies, cybersecurity, data, and digital infrastructure, as well as the multiple policy issues impacting these sectors, including tax and financial services.
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