WASHINGTON – Following the release of the bipartisan of “Driving US Innovation in Artificial Intelligence,” the bipartisan roadmap for AI policy crafted by leading members of the US Senate, BSA | The Software Alliance CEO Victoria Espinel issued the following statement:

“BSA commends Leader Schumer, and Sens. Rounds, Heinrich, and Young for their serious and bipartisan work to advance artificial intelligence (AI) policy in the United States.

The Senate’s bipartisan roadmap for AI policy places a welcome focus on promoting innovation in technology and recognizes the benefits of AI across the economy and society. BSA welcomes the roadmap’s support for a risk-based approach to AI, and its call for action on a strong and comprehensive privacy law to protect the personal data of consumers nationwide.

BSA additionally welcomes language in the roadmap that supports the ability of small businesses to better leverage cloud infrastructure and AI, recognizes the important role of federal procurement in setting rules for AI, promotes the use of content authentication tools, and underscores the need for enabling the trusted free flow of information across borders. The roadmap additionally calls for action that would help to advance standards work, including through investments in NIST, and the development of tools to test AI systems.

The publication of the Senate’s AI roadmap should now provide an impetus for action on legislation. National technology laws remain the best way to widely spread the benefits of responsible AI and build trust and adoption, especially as US states begin to act on AI legislation. The Senate’s roadmap identifies some pieces of legislation as priorities for action, while also recognizing the need for additional work on policy to address some of the other issues identified in the roadmap. BSA published its Policy Solutions for Building Responsible AI to offer the enterprise software industry’s suggestions for how to best address some of the outstanding issues in the Senate roadmap, and BSA will continue to generate constructive policy ideas that support the growth and adoption of responsible AI.”

BSA has led on AI policy development dating back to 2018, when BSA first issued its five pillars for facilitating responsible AI innovation. In the years since, BSA has developed in conjunction with its members a variety of proposals to advance responsible AI, most notably the 2021 Framework to Build Trust in AI. Those principles inform BSA’s advocacy before US lawmakers and to governments worldwide.