I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5356 

To establish the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2018 

Ms. STEFANIK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, Foreign Affairs, Science, Space, and Technology, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the National Security Commission on Artificial 

Intelligence. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Security 

5 Commission Artificial Intelligence Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION ON ARTIFICIAL 

7 INTELLIGENCE. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex9 ecutive branch an independent commission to be known 


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1 as the National Security Commission on Artificial Intel2 ligence (in this subtitle referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

3 The Commission shall be considered an independent estab4 lishment of the Federal Government as defined by section 

5 104 of title 5, United States Code, and a temporary orga6 nization under section 3161 of such title. 

7 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall carry 

9 out a review of the advances in artificial intelligence, 

10 related machine learning developments, and associ11 ated technologies. In carrying out such review, the 

12 Commission shall consider the methods and means 

13 necessary to advance the development of artificial in14 telligence, machine learning, and associated tech15 nologies by the United States to comprehensively ad16 dress the national security needs of the Nation, in17 cluding economic risk, and any other needs of the 

18 Department of Defense or the common defense of 

19 the Nation. 

20 (2) SCOPE OF THE REVIEW.—In conducting the 

21 review under paragraph (1)(A), the Commission 

22 shall consider— 

23 (A) the competitiveness of the United 

24 States in artificial intelligence, machine learn25 ing, and other associated technologies, including 


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1 matters related to national security, economic 

2 security, public-private partnerships, and invest3 ments; 

4 (B) means and methods for the United 

5 States to maintain a technological advantage in 

6 artificial intelligence, machine learning, and 

7 other associated technologies, including quan8 tum computing and high performance com9 puting; 

10 (C) developments and trends in inter11 national cooperation and competitiveness, in12 cluding foreign investments in artificial intel13 ligence, machine learning, and computer science 

14 fields; 

15 (D) means by which to foster greater em16 phasis and investments in basic and advanced 

17 research to stimulate private, public, academic 

18 and combined initiatives in artificial intel19 ligence, machine learning, and other associated 

20 technologies, including quantum computing and 

21 high performance computing; 

22 (E) workforce and education incentives to 

23 attract and recruit leading talent in artificial 

24 intelligence and machine learning, including 


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1 science, technology, engineering, and math pro2 grams; 

3 (F) risks associated with United States 

4 and foreign country advances in military em5 ployment of artificial intelligence and machine 

6 learning, including under the international law 

7 of armed conflict, international humanitarian 

8 law, and escalation dynamics; 

9 (G) associated ethical considerations re10 lated to artificial intelligence and machine 

11 learning as it will be used for future applica12 tions; 

13 (H) means to establish data standards and 

14 provide incentives for the sharing of open train15 ing data within related data-driven industries; 

16 (I) development of privacy- and security17 protecting measures for data in artificial intel18 ligence, machine learning, and associated tech19 nologies; and 

20 (J) any other matters the Commission 

21 deems relevant to the common defense of the 

22 Nation. 

23 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 (1) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.—The Com2 mission shall be composed of 11 members appointed 

3 as follows: 

4 (A) The Secretary of Defense shall appoint 

5 3 members. 

6 (B) The Chairman of the Committee on 

7 Armed Services of the Senate shall appoint 2 

8 members. 

9 (C) The ranking minority member of the 

10 Committee on Armed Services of the Senate 

11 shall appoint 2 members. 

12 (D) The Chairman of the Committee on 

13 Armed Services of the House of Representatives 

14 shall appoint 2 members. 

15 (E) The ranking minority member of the 

16 Committee on Armed Services of the House of 

17 Representatives shall appoint 2 members. 

18 (2) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Members 

19 shall be appointed to the Commission under para20 graph (1) not later than 90 days after the date of 

21 the enactment of this Act. 

22 (3) EFFECT OF LACK OF APPOINTMENT BY AP23 POINTMENT DATE.—If one or more appointments 

24 under paragraph (1) is not made by the date speci25 fied in paragraph (2), the authority to make such 


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1 appointment or appointments shall expire, and the 

2 number of members of the Commission shall be re3 duced by the number equal to the number of ap4 pointments so not made. 

5 (d) CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.—The Commission shall 

6 elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its members. 

7 (e) TERMS.—Members shall be appointed for the life 

8 of the Commission. A vacancy in the Commission shall not 

9 affect its powers and shall be filled in the same manner 

10 as the original appointment was made. 

11 (f) STATUS AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—Notwith12 standing the requirements of section 2105 of title 5, 

13 United States Code, including the required supervision 

14 under subsection (a)(3) of such section, the members of 

15 the Commission shall be deemed to be Federal employees. 

16 (g) FUNDING.—Of the amounts authorized to be ap17 propriated for fiscal year 2019 for the Department of De18 fense, not more than $10,000,000 shall be made available 

19 to the Commission to carry out its duties under this sec20 tion. Funds made available to the Commission under the 

21 preceding sentence shall remain available until expended. 

22 (h) REPORTS.— 

23 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

25 Commission shall submit to the President and ConVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:47 Mar 29, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5356.IH H5356

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1 gress an initial report on the findings of the Com2 mission and such recommendations that the Com3 mission may have for action by the executive branch 

4 and the Congress related to artificial intelligence and 

5 machine learning and associated technologies, in6 cluding recommendations to more effectively orga7 nize the Federal Government. 

8 (2) COMPREHENSIVE REPORT.—Not later than 

9 one year after the date of this enactment of this Act, 

10 and annually thereafter until the date specified in 

11 subsection (j), the Commission shall submit to the 

12 President and to Congress a comprehensive report 

13 on the review required under subsection (b). 

14 (i) DEFINITION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—In 

15 this section, the term ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ includes each 

16 of the following: 

17 (1) Any artificial system that performs tasks 

18 under varying and unpredictable circumstances with19 out significant human oversight, or that can learn 

20 from experience and improve performance when ex21 posed to data sets. 

22 (2) An artificial system developed in computer 

23 software, physical hardware, or other context that 

24 solves tasks requiring human-like perception, cogVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:47 Mar 29, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5356.IH H5356

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1 nition, planning, learning, communication, or phys2 ical action. 

3 (3) An artificial system designed to think or act 

4 like a human, including cognitive architectures and 

5 neural networks. 

6 (4) A set of techniques, including machine 

7 learning, that is designed to approximate a cognitive 

8 task. 

9 (5) An artificial system designed to act ration10 ally, including an intelligent software agent or em11 bodied robot that achieves goals using perception, 

12 planning, reasoning, learning, communicating, deci13 sionmaking, and acting. 

14 (j) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 

15 on October 1, 2020. 

Æ 


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