Since the launch of ChatGPT in November, the market for generative artificial intelligence has quickly expanded as Google, Meta, and other technology companies have capitalized on the popularity and promise of generative AI by deploying their own systems to the public. The rapid growth of the AI market and significant advancement in the capabilities of these technologies has exposed both their benefits and risks. How to address these risks remains a challenge, and the need for effective regulation has become apparent. Members of Congress agree.
The Brennan Center’s Artificial Intelligence Legislation Tracker aims to increase public awareness of the myriad proposed regulatory approaches to AI legislation by serving as a repository of such AI-related bills introduced this session. Until now, information about AI legislation has been scattered across the internet or was accessible only through expensive legislative tracking services. Given both the known and unknown risks of AI, it is critical that the public have easy access to information on how lawmakers are attempting to address concerns.
To maintain a reasonable scope, the tracker is limited to bills introduced during the 118th Congress that would do at least one of the following:
- Impose restrictions on AI that is deemed high risk
- Require purveyors of AI systems to conduct evaluations of the technology and its uses
- Impose transparency, notice, and labeling requirements
- Create or designate a regulatory authority to oversee AI
- Protect consumers through liability measures
- Direct the government to study AI to inform potential regulation
The tracker also includes data protection bills that would significantly impact AI providers.
The bills included in the tracker address some of the most serious risks posed by AI systems, such as perpetuating discrimination and bias, opaque and untested operating systems, giving inaccurate information, undermining privacy, and enabling disinformation and manipulation of images, video, and audio to influence elections.
Just as artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, so is the legislative landscape. A plethora of bills have already been introduced this session, with many more coming down the pike. The Brennan Center’s Artificial Intelligence Legislation Tracker will prove a useful tool to help industry leaders, policy advocates, and groups uniquely affected by AI keep up. The tracker adds to the Brennan Center’s research on the risks AI poses to elections and the discriminatory impact of AI used in immigration, law enforcement social media monitoring, and facial recognition.
