Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, initiated efforts to explore how the federal government should amend acquisition policies to ensure the responsible development and adoption of artificial intelligence tools through a third Senate panel hearing conducted Thursday.
The Senate committee hearing highlighted the current processes for procuring AI systems, the factors that should be prioritized when assessing AI systems and how federal experts could help improve transparency and reduce potential risks associated with such technologies, the panel said Thursday.
“In order to successfully and effectively purchase and use AI tools, federal agencies have to be prepared to address issues like privacy concerns about the use of federal data to train commercial models and preventing bias in government decision-making,” Peters shared in his opening statement.
The lawmaker also discussed the need for continuous oversight when it comes to AI deployment and the capability of federal acquisition processes to shape responsible and transparent standards.
“Through federal procurement policy, the government has a unique opportunity to shape standards and frameworks for development and deployment of these technologies across the private sector more broadly,” Peters noted.