In these waning days of the 118th Congress, lawmakers will sprint to address its final legislation. One key bill on the floor of both chambers of Congress is the CREATE AI (Creating Resources for Every American to Experiment with Artificial Intelligence) Act. This bill would establish a national AI research resource to provide access to much-needed compute and datasets for academics, nonprofit researchers, and startups.
While it’s unclear whether Congress will vote on this bipartisan bill during the lame duck session, Russell Wald, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI executive director, says it’s vital.
“AI is moving so fast, and currently the field is dominated by industry,” he notes. “The CREATE AI Act will bring more diverse stakeholders to the table, adding necessary voices to the conversations around AI’s best uses and the norms of responsible AI. It will spur research that is not profit-motivated, and ensure AI development benefits society, not just customers.”
Here he explains the bill’s status, what it will take to pass it, and what will happen if it gets delayed.
What is the current status of this bill?
There are two versions of it, one in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. Both have made it out of the appropriate committees of jurisdiction and are on the House and Senate floors, and they have bipartisan support. But we’re also in a lame duck session. That means that this bill will need to ride on a variety of other must-pass bills that will happen during the lame duck session. If both chambers of Congress pass it, then it goes to the president to be signed into law.
How likely is that to happen in these short few months before this Congress recesses?
This bill has a significant amount of bipartisan support and, frankly, is low-hanging fruit that will have a high impact on AI in the United States. But there’s so much in the congressional calendar to get done in a short period of time. What we need to see is the will of Congress applied here, and that they actually take the time to put this on the agenda to address. Still, I’m optimistic; of all of the AI legislation that’s out there, this is so universally understood and accepted as something that the U.S. has to do.
Why should they pass it?
From where I sit, I would argue that this bill is extraordinarily important. It will make sure that the U.S. is a leader in AI, but not just industry AI, but also in ways that will advance medicine, healthcare, robotics, energy. It will unlock so many possibilities. So time is of the essence to get this right.
What happens if this doesn’t pass?
It goes back to the drawing board. Some of the current champions will not be part of the 119th Congress, so it will need new authors. This means it will take the U.S. longer to get where we need to with AI, of having diversified AI with multiple stakeholders looking to make AI safer and more innovative. There are also national security imperatives. China and other countries are advancing this technology in robotics, for example. If we want the U.S. to maintain leadership in this technology, we need to pass the CREATE AI Act into law.
How might the new administration influence this?
I can’t speak to Trump’s new administration, but I can speak to the first Trump administration, which HAI worked with. To that end, its AI policy was quite engaged. There were signals of support for a concept like a national AI research resource at the end of the Trump administration, from those who were in the tech policy areas of government.
On Nov. 18, 2024, 78 academic, industry, and society leaders wrote an open letter urging Congress to pass this act.