AICT Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1705 To establish a coordinated Federal initiative to accelerate the research, devel- opment, procurement, fielding, and sustainment of artificial intelligence for the economic and national security interests of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 19, 2021 Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To establish a coordinated Federal initiative to accelerate the research, development, procurement, fielding, and sustainment of artificial intelligence for the economic and national security interests of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Artificial Intelligence 4 Capabilities and Transparency Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘AICT 5 Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1705 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2 (1) By enacting section 1051 of the John S. 3 McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fis- 4 cal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232), Congress es- 5 tablished the National Security Commission on Arti- 6 ficial Intelligence (NSCAI) to ‘‘consider the methods 7 and means necessary to advance the development of 8 artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associ- 9 ated technologies by the United States to com- 10 prehensively address the national security and de- 11 fense needs of the United States’’. 12 (2) The National Security Commission on Arti- 13 ficial Intelligence was comprised of technology and 14 policy experts with combined expertise in their field. 15 (3) The National Security Commission on Arti- 16 ficial Intelligence released its final report to Con- 17 gress in March of 2021. 18 (4) This Act is primarily based on the con- 19 sensus recommendations of the National Security 20 Commission on Artificial Intelligence. 21 (5) The National Science Foundation (NSF) es- 22 tablished the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) 23 Research Institutes program in 2020 to invest in 24 long-term research into artificial intelligence. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1705 IS (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 1 gress that— 2 (1) artificial intelligence, machine learning, and 3 associated technologies will play a critical role in the 4 economic and national security interests of the 5 United States and its allies; 6 (2) two additional themes for Artificial Intel- 7 ligence Research Institutes should be established in 8 the areas of artificial intelligence safety and artificial 9 intelligence ethics; and 10 (3) the Director of the National Science Foun- 11 dation should stand up the thematic programs de- 12 scribed in paragraph (2) as soon as practicable. 13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act: 15 (1) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar- 16 tificial intelligence’’ includes the following: 17 (A) Any artificial system that performs 18 tasks under varying and unpredictable cir- 19 cumstances without significant human over- 20 sight, or that can learn from experience and im- 21 prove performance when exposed to data sets. 22 (B) An artificial system developed in com- 23 puter software, physical hardware, or other con- 24 text that solves tasks requiring human-like per- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1705 IS ception, cognition, planning, learning, commu- 1 nication, or physical action. 2 (C) An artificial system designed to think 3 or act like a human, including cognitive archi- 4 tectures and neural networks. 5 (D) A set of techniques, including machine 6 learning, that is designed to approximate a cog- 7 nitive task. 8 (E) An artificial system designed to act ra- 9 tionally, including an intelligent software agent 10 or embodied robot that achieves goals using 11 perception, planning, reasoning, learning, com- 12 municating, decisionmaking and acting. 13 (2) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ETHICS.—The 14 term ‘‘artificial intelligence ethics’’ includes the 15 quantitative analysis of artificial intelligence systems 16 to address matters relating to the effects of such 17 systems on individuals and society, such as matters 18 of fairness or the potential for discrimination. 19 (3) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SAFETY.—The 20 term ‘‘artificial intelligence safety’’ includes tech- 21 nical efforts to improve artificial intelligence systems 22 in order to reduce adverse and unintentional effects 23 of such systems. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1705 IS (4) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES.— 1 The term ‘‘congressional defense committees’’ has 2 the meaning given such term in section 101(a) of 3 title 10, United States Code. 4 (5) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 5 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 6 such term in section 3 of the National Security Act 7 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 8 (6) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 9 ‘‘United States person’’ does not include a member 10 of the Armed Forces or an employee of the Depart- 11 ment of Defense. 12 SEC. 4. DIGITAL TALENT RECRUITING OFFICERS. 13 (a) DIGITAL TALENT RECRUITING FOR THE DE- 14 PARTMENT OF DEFENSE.— 15 (1) DESIGNATION OF CHIEF DIGITAL RECRUIT- 16 ING OFFICER.—Not later than 270 days after the 17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 18 Defense shall designate a chief digital recruiting of- 19 ficer within the office of the Under Secretary of De- 20 fense for Personnel and Readiness to oversee a dig- 21 ital recruiting office to carry out the responsibilities 22 set forth in paragraph (2). 23 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The chief digital re- 24 cruiting officer designated under paragraph (1) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1705 IS shall, in coordination with the Director for the Joint 1 Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), be responsible 2 for— 3 (A) identifying needs of the Department of 4 Defense for specific types of digital talent; 5 (B) recruiting technologists, in partnership 6 with the military services and Department com- 7 ponents, including by attending conferences and 8 career fairs, and actively recruiting on univer- 9 sity campuses and from the private sector; 10 (C) integrating Federal scholarship for 11 service programs into Department civilian re- 12 cruiting; and 13 (D) partnering with human resource teams 14 in the military services and Department compo- 15 nents to use direct-hire authorities to accelerate 16 hiring. 17 (3) STAFF AND RESOURCES.—The Secretary of 18 Defense shall ensure that the chief digital recruiting 19 officer designated under paragraph (1) is provided 20 with staff and resources sufficient to maintain an of- 21 fice and to carry out the responsibilities set forth in 22 paragraph (2). 23 (b) DIGITAL TALENT RECRUITING FOR THE INTEL- 24 LIGENCE COMMUNITY.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1705 IS (1) DESIGNATION OF CHIEF DIGITAL RECRUIT- 1 ING OFFICER.—Not later than 270 days after the 2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of 3 National Intelligence shall designate a chief digital 4 recruiting officer to oversee a digital recruiting office 5 to carry out the responsibilities set forth in para- 6 graph (2). 7 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The chief digital re- 8 cruiting officer designated under paragraph (1) shall 9 be responsible for— 10 (A) identifying needs of the intelligence 11 community for specific types of digital talent; 12 (B) recruiting technologists, in partnership 13 with components of the intelligence community, 14 by attending conferences and career fairs, and 15 actively recruiting on college campuses; 16 (C) integrating Federal scholarship for 17 service programs into intelligence community 18 recruiting; 19 (D) offering recruitment and referral bo- 20 nuses; and 21 (E) partnering with human resource teams 22 in the components of the intelligence commu- 23 nity to use direct-hire authorities to accelerate 24 hiring. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1705 IS (3) STAFF AND RESOURCES.—The Director of 1 National Intelligence shall ensure that the chief dig- 2 ital recruiting officer designated under paragraph 3 (1) is provided with staff and resources sufficient to 4 maintain an office and to carry out the responsibil- 5 ities set forth in paragraph (2). 6 (c) DIGITAL TALENT RECRUITING FOR THE DEPART- 7 MENT OF ENERGY.— 8 (1) CHIEF DIGITAL RECRUITING OFFICER.— 9 Not later than 270 days after the date of the enact- 10 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall des- 11 ignate a chief digital recruiting officer to oversee a 12 digital recruiting office to carry out the responsibil- 13 ities set forth in paragraph (2). 14 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The chief digital re- 15 cruiting officer designated under paragraph (1) shall 16 be responsible for— 17 (A) identifying Department of Energy 18 needs for specific types of digital talent; 19 (B) recruiting technologists, in partnership 20 with Department programs, by attending con- 21 ferences and career fairs, and actively recruit- 22 ing on college campuses; 23 (C) integrating Federal scholarship for 24 service programs into civilian recruiting; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1705 IS (D) offering recruitment and referral bo- 1 nuses; and 2 (E) partnering with human resource teams 3 in Department programs to use direct-hire au- 4 thorities to accelerate hiring. 5 (3) STAFF AND RESOURCES.—The Secretary of 6 Energy shall ensure that the chief digital recruiting 7 officer designated under paragraph (1) is provided 8 with staff and resources sufficient to maintain an of- 9 fice and to carry out the responsibilities set forth in 10 paragraph (2). 11 SEC. 5. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PILOT PROGRAM ON ES- 12 TABLISHING AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 13 DEVELOPMENT AND PROTOTYPING FUND. 14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM AND ARTI- 15 FICIAL INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT AND PROTOTYPING 16 FUND.— 17 (1) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of De- 18 fense shall establish and carry out a pilot program 19 to assess the feasibility and advisability of estab- 20 lishing a fund for the purpose set forth in subsection 21 (b). 22 (2) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT 23 AND PROTOTYPING FUND.—Under the pilot pro- 24 gram, the Secretary shall establish a fund to be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1705 IS known as the ‘‘Artificial Intelligence Development 1 and Prototyping Fund’’ (in this section referred to 2 as the ‘‘Fund’’). 3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the pilot program and 4 the Fund is to support operational prototyping and speed 5 the transition of artificial intelligence-enabled applications 6 into both service-specific and joint mission capabilities 7 with priority on joint mission capabilities for Combatant 8 Commanders. 9 (c) MANAGEMENT OF THE FUND.—The Fund shall 10 be managed by the Secretary, acting through the Joint 11 Artificial Intelligence Center, in consultation with the 12 Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineer- 13 ing, the Joint Staff, and the military services. 14 (d) USE OF FUNDS FOR DEVELOPMENT OR PROTO- 15 TYPING.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 17 through the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, may 18 transfer such amounts in the Fund as the Secretary 19 considers appropriate to a military service for the 20 purpose of carrying out a development or proto- 21 typing program selected by the Secretary for the 22 purpose described in subsection (b). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1705 IS (2) TREATMENT OF TRANSFERRED FUNDS.— 1 Any amount transferred under paragraph (1) shall 2 be credited to the account to which it is transferred. 3 (3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—The trans- 4 fer authority provided in this subsection is in addi- 5 tion to any other transfer authority available to the 6 Secretary or the Under Secretary. 7 (e) CONGRESSIONAL NOTICE.— 8 (1) NOTICE REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 9 notify the congressional defense committees of all 10 transfers under subsection (d). 11 (2) CONTENTS.—Each notice under paragraph 12 (1) shall specify the amount transferred, the purpose 13 of the transfer, and the total projected cost and esti- 14 mated cost to complete the program to which the 15 funds were transferred. 16 (f) TERMINATION.—The pilot program and the Fund 17 established under subsection (a) shall both terminate on 18 the date that is two years after the date of the enactment 19 of this Act. 20 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 21 are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 to be de- 22 posited into the Fund and to carry out this section. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1705.IS S1705 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1705 IS SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE RESOURCING PLAN FOR 1 DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within one year after the date of 3 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 4 develop a plan for the development of a modern digital 5 ecosystem that embraces state-of-the-art tools and modern 6 processes to enable development, testing, fielding, and con- 7 tinuous update of artificial intelligence-powered applica- 8 tions at speed and scale from headquarters to the tactical 9 edge. 10 (b) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—At a minimum, the plan 11 required by subsection (a) shall include— 12 (1) an open architecture and an evolving ref- 13 erence design and guidance for needed technical in- 14 vestments in the proposed ecosystem that address 15 issues including common interfac [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]