II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2806 

To establish the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2018 

Mrs. ERNST (for herself and Ms. CORTEZ MASTO) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish the National Security Commission on Artificial 

Intelligence, and for other purposes. 

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 on Artificial Intelligence Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION ON ARTIFICIAL 

7 INTELLIGENCE. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar10 tificial intelligence’’ includes each of the following: 


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1 (A) Any artificial system that performs 

2 tasks under varying and unpredictable cir3 cumstances without significant human over4 sight, or that can learn from experience and im5 prove performance when exposed to data sets. 

6 (B) An artificial system developed in com7 puter software, physical hardware, or other con8 text that solves tasks requiring human-like per9 ception, cognition, planning, learning, commu10 nication, or physical action. 

11 (C) An artificial system designed to think 

12 or act like a human, including cognitive archi13 tectures and neural networks. 

14 (D) A set of techniques, including machine 

15 learning, that is designed to approximate a cog16 nitive task. 

17 (E) An artificial system designed to act ra18 tionally, including an intelligent software agent 

19 or embodied robot that achieves goals using 

20 perception, planning, reasoning, learning, com21 municating, decision making, and acting. 

22 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

23 means the National Security Commission on Artifi24 cial Intelligence established under subsection (b)(1). 

25 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

2 executive branch an independent commission to re3 view advances in artificial intelligence, related ma4 chine learning developments, and associated tech5 nologies. 

6 (2) TREATMENT.—The Commission shall be 

7 considered an independent establishment (as defined 

8 in section 104 of title 5, United States Code) and 

9 a temporary organization (as defined in section 

10 3161(a) of such title). 

11 (3) DESIGNATION.—The commission estab12 lished under paragraph (1) shall be known as the 

13 ‘‘National Security Commission on Artificial Intel14 ligence’’. 

15 (4) MEMBERSHIP.— 

16 (A) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall 

17 be composed of 15 members appointed as fol18 lows: 

19 (i) The Secretary of Commerce shall 

20 appoint 1 member. 

21 (ii) The Secretary of Defense shall ap22 point 2 members. 

23 (iii) The Chairman of the Committee 

24 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

25 of the Senate shall appoint 1 member. 


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1 (iv) The Ranking Member of the 

2 Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

3 Transportation of the Senate shall appoint 

4 1 member. 

5 (v) The Chairman of the Committee 

6 on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

7 Representatives shall appoint 1 member. 

8 (vi) The Ranking Member of the 

9 Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

10 the House of Representatives shall appoint 

11 1 member. 

12 (vii) The Chairman of the Committee 

13 on Armed Services of the Senate shall ap14 point 1 member. 

15 (viii) The ranking minority member of 

16 the Committee on Armed Services of the 

17 Senate shall appoint 1 member. 

18 (ix) The Chairman of the Committee 

19 on Armed Services of the House of Rep20 resentatives shall appoint 1 member. 

21 (x) The ranking minority member of 

22 the Committee on Armed Services of the 

23 House of Representatives shall appoint 1 

24 member. 


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1 (xi) The Chairman of the Select Com2 mittee on Intelligence of the Senate shall 

3 appoint 1 member. 

4 (xii) The Vice Chairman of the Select 

5 Committee on Intelligence of the Senate 

6 shall appoint 1 member. 

7 (xiii) The Chairman of the Permanent 

8 Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

9 House of Representatives shall appoint 1 

10 member. 

11 (xiv) The ranking member of the Per12 manent Select Committee on Intelligence 

13 of the House of representatives shall ap14 point 1 member. 

15 (B) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Mem16 bers shall be appointed to the Commission 

17 under paragraph (1) not later than 90 days 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 (C) EFFECT OF LACK OF APPOINTMENT

20 BY APPOINTMENT DATE.—If one or more ap21 pointments under paragraph (1) is not made by 

22 the date specified in paragraph (2), the author23 ity to make such appointment or appointments 

24 shall expire, and the number of members of the 

25 Commission shall be reduced by the number 


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1 equal to the number of appointments so not 

2 made. 

3 (5) CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.—The Commission 

4 shall elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its 

5 members, one of whom shall be a national security 

6 practitioner or academic and one of whom shall be 

7 an economist or expert in the United States econ8 omy. 

9 (6) TERMS.—Members shall be appointed for 

10 the life of the Commission. A vacancy in the Com11 mission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled 

12 in the same manner as the original appointment was 

13 made. 

14 (7) STATUS AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—Not15 withstanding the requirements of section 2105 of 

16 title 5, United States Code, including the required 

17 supervision under subsection (a)(3) of such section, 

18 the members of the Commission shall be deemed to 

19 be Federal employees. 

20 (c) DUTIES.— 

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

22 out the review described in subsection (b)(1). In car23 rying out such review, the Commission shall consider 

24 the methods and means necessary to advance the de25 velopment of artificial intelligence, machine learning, 


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1 and associated technologies by the United States to 

2 comprehensively address the national and economic 

3 security needs of the United States, including eco4 nomic risk, and any other associated issues. 

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

6 review under paragraph (1), the Commission shall 

7 consider the following: 

8 (A) The competitiveness of the United 

9 States in artificial intelligence, machine learn10 ing, and other associated technologies, including 

11 matters relating to national security, economic 

12 security, public-private partnerships, and invest13 ments. 

14 (B) Means and methods for the United 

15 States to maintain a technological advantage in 

16 artificial intelligence, machine learning, and 

17 other associated technologies, including quan18 tum computing and high performance com19 puting. 

20 (C) Developments and trends in inter21 national cooperation and competitiveness, in22 cluding foreign investments in artificial intel23 ligence, machine learning, and computer science 

24 fields. 


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1 (D) Means by which to foster greater em2 phasis and investments in basic and advanced 

3 research to stimulate private, public, academic, 

4 and combined initiatives in artificial intel5 ligence, machine learning, and other associated 

6 technologies, including quantum computing and 

7 high performance computing. 

8 (E) Education effects and incentives to at9 tract and recruit leading talent in artificial in10 telligence and machine learning, including 

11 science, technology, engineering, and math pro12 grams. 

13 (F) Workforce effects, displacement of 

14 workers, and the role of government or industry 

15 in retraining displaced workers. 

16 (G) Risks associated with United States 

17 and foreign country and non-state actors ad18 vances in military employment of artificial intel19 ligence and machine learning, or acquisition of 

20 the same, including under the international law 

21 of armed conflict, international humanitarian 

22 law, and escalation dynamics. 

23 (H) Associated ethical considerations re24 lated to artificial intelligence and machine 


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1 learning as it will be used for future applica2 tions. 

3 (I) Means to establish data standards and 

4 provide incentives for the sharing of open train5 ing data within related data-driven industries. 

6 (J) The opportunities or vulnerabilities of 

7 intellectual property theft, copyright infringe8 ment concerns and risk associated with outside 

9 influences, whether friendly or adversarial. 

10 (K) The potential legal use by law enforce11 ment to address technological barriers to bring12 ing criminals to justice or aiding in broader 

13 criminal investigations. 

14 (L) Development of privacy- and security15 protecting measures for data, and broader cyber 

16 security protections, in artificial intelligence, 

17 machine learning, and associated technologies. 

18 (M) Consideration of the evolution of arti19 ficial intelligence and appropriate mechanisms 

20 for managing such technology. 

21 (N) Such other matters as the Commission 

22 considers relevant to the common defense or 

23 economic security of the United States. 

24 (d) REPORTS.— 


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

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

3 Commission shall submit to the President and Con4 gress an initial report on the findings of the Com5 mission and such recommendations that the Com6 mission may have for action by the executive branch 

7 and Congress related to artificial intelligence and 

8 machine learning and associated technologies, in9 cluding recommendations to more effectively orga10 nize the Federal Government. 

11 (2) ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE REPORTS.—Not 

12 later than one year after the date of this enactment 

13 of this Act and not less frequently than once each 

14 year thereafter until the date specified in subsection 

15 (f), the Commission shall submit to the President 

16 and to Congress a comprehensive report on the re17 view required under subsection (c). 

18 (3) FORM OF REPORTS.—Reports submitted 

19 under this subsection shall be made publically avail20 able, but may include a classified annex. 

21 (4) DISSENTING OPINIONS.—Reports submitted 

22 under this subsection shall provide the opportunity 

23 for dissenting opinions from within the Commission, 

24 provided for within the appendices of the public re25 port, and in the classified annexes as appropriate. 


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1 (e) FUNDING.—Of the amounts authorized to be ap2 propriated for fiscal year 2019 for the Department of De3 fense, not more than $10,000,000 shall be made available 

4 to the Commission to carry out its duties under this sec5 tion. Funds made available to the Commission under the 

6 preceding sentence shall remain available until expended. 

7 (f) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 

8 on October 1, 2020. 

Æ 


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