II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 5539 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES December 16, 2024 Mr. Welch (for himself and Mr. Luján ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require systematic review of artificial intelligence systems before deployment by the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Trustworthy By Design Artificial Intelligence Act of 2024 or the TBD AI Act of 2024 . 2. Definitions In this Act: (1) Artificial intelligence system The term artificial intelligence system means a machine-based system that can, for a given set of machine-defined or human-defined objectives, make or inform predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. Artificial intelligence systems use machine and human-based inputs to— (A) perceive real and virtual environments; (B) abstract such perceptions into models through analysis in an automated manner; and (C) use model inference to formulate options for information or action. (2) Director The term Director means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. (3) Federal agency The term Federal agency means any Federal department, agency, or organization. 3. Guidelines for evaluation of trustworthiness of artificial intelligence systems (a) Development required (1) In general Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall develop and release a set of guidelines for evaluation of the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence systems. (2) Use of existing guidelines or elements (A) In general In carrying out paragraph (1), the Director may use existing guidelines, best practices, or elements of guidelines or best practices that the Director identifies from other sources. (B) Annotation If the Director uses guidelines, best practices, or elements of guidelines or best practices pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this paragraph in order to carry out paragraph (1), the Director shall clearly annotate such use in a central location and make such annotations available online to the public. (3) Periodic updates The Director shall, on a periodic basis but not less frequently than annually, update the guidelines developed pursuant to paragraph (1). (b) Components covered The guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a) for evaluation of artificial intelligence systems shall cover the following: (1) The models used for the artificial intelligence systems. (2) The data used and activities conducted in training the artificial intelligence systems, including the collection and filtering of data. (3) The processes and techniques applied after initial training to enhance the capabilities of the artificial intelligence systems, such as fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, and other post-training optimization methods. (4) Content generated by the artificial intelligence systems. (5) The hardware systems used by the artificial intelligence systems. (6) Interactions between humans and the artificial intelligence systems that are expected to arise during intended or reasonably foreseeable use of the artificial intelligence systems. (7) Risks presented by anthropomorphic artificial intelligence systems. (c) Elements of trustworthiness (1) In general The guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a) shall cover trustworthiness with respect to the following: (A) Validity and reliability. (B) Safety. (C) Security. (D) Resiliency. (E) Transparency and accountability. (F) Explainability and interpretability. (G) Privacy. (H) Fairness and bias. (I) Such other matters relating to safety, security, or trustworthiness as the Director considers appropriate. (2) Protected classes The guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a) shall specifically highlight and consider accuracy and bias risks relating to protected classes under Federal law. (d) Applicability The Director shall ensure that the guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a) are developed so that they include an assessment of the trustworthiness of all components covered under subsection (b) with regards to all elements under subsection (c), but account for circumstances in which certain assessment methods or recommendations may not be applicable to certain components or elements may not be applicable. (e) Limitation relating to synthetic content Under the guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a), the Director shall identify appropriate mechanisms to manage the risks from relying on synthetic content or content created by artificial intelligence systems to improve a dataset or model, or to meet evaluation guidelines. (f) Developing robust guidelines The Director shall ensure that the guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a) are developed in such a manner that encourages transparency, cooperation, and collaboration with developers or evaluators of artificial intelligence systems, academia, and civil society sufficient to independently verify the elements set forth under subsection (c)(1). (g) Iterative evaluation The Director shall ensure that the guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a) cover how best to evaluate the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence systems iteratively, throughout the design, development, and deployment lifecycle of an artificial intelligence system. (h) Report to Congress (1) In general The Director shall submit to Congress a report on any expected barriers to implementing and adhering to the guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (a), especially with respect to transparency, cooperation, or collaboration barriers with developers of artificial intelligence systems. (2) Form The report under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified appendix, if necessary. 4. Federal deployment of artificial intelligence systems (a) Covered use defined In this section, with respect to an artificial intelligence system, the term covered use — (1) means use in any automated decision making; and (2) does not include any use that the Director exempts from any portion of the guidelines issued under section 3(a), including any use that— (A) is subject to evaluation by existing national security assessments; or (B) is an edge case, especially a time sensitive or emergency case, as determined by the Director. (b) Existing artificial intelligence systems With respect to any artificial intelligence system deployed for a covered use that is in use by a Federal agency before the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal agency shall evaluate the artificial intelligence system deployment to ensure the artificial intelligence system meets the guidelines developed under section 3(a) not later than 2 years after the effective date of this section or cease using the artificial intelligence system. (c) New artificial intelligence systems The head of each Federal agency shall ensure that each new acquisition or integration of an artificial intelligence system by the Federal agency for a covered use meets the guidelines developed under section 3(a) prior to deployment of the artificial intelligence system. (d) Labeling (1) In general The head of each Federal agency shall identify as compliant, and make publicly available, in accordance with all applicable classification requirements and national security restrictions, the documentation of evaluation status and compliance details for, each artificial intelligence system deployment for a covered use by the Federal agency that meets the guidelines developed under section 3(a). (2) Noncompliant deployments Not later than 2 years after the effective date of this section, the head of each Federal agency that deploys an artificial intelligence system that is not compliant or is not evaluated pursuant to paragraph (1), shall— (A) make publicly available documentation of each such deployment; and (B) with respect to each such deployment, report— (i) the status of the evaluation; (ii) progress made towards compliance; (iii) a clear, specific justification for any delay; and (iv) any barriers to compliance, including resource constraints. (3) Report to Congress (A) In general Not later than 3 years after the effective date of this section, the head of each Federal agency shall submit to Congress a report of each deployment described in paragraph (2). (B) Form The report under subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified appendix, if necessary. (e) Chief AI Officers (1) In general Not later than 120 days after the effective date of this section, the head of each Federal agency shall designate a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, with responsibility for the management, governance, acquisition, and oversight processes of the Federal agency relating to artificial intelligence, including implementation of the guidelines developed under section 3(a). (2) Full-time employee To the extent practicable, each Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer designated under paragraph (1) shall be a full-time employee of the Federal agency on the date of the designation. (3) Seniority With respect to the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of any agency described in section 901(b) of title 31, United States Code, the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer shall be an executive with a position classified above GS–15 of the General Schedule or the equivalent. (f) Effective date This section shall take effect on the date that the guidelines developed pursuant to section 3(a) are released.