Tech giants press Congress to codify AI Safety Institute

A coalition of more than 60 tech companies and industry groups, including Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI, urged congressional leaders Tuesday to pass legislation permanently authorizing the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute by the end of the year. 

In a letter led by the Information Technology Industry Council and Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), the coalition called on Congress to prioritize legislation that would codify and provide resources for the institute located within the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST). 

“There is a critical opportunity for the U.S. to lead multilateral efforts through its own AI Safety Institute — or risk letting other countries write the rules for this powerful technology,” the letter reads. 

“Codifying this work at NIST before the end of this year will help ensure that the U.S. maintains its influence in the development of science-backed standards and technical work that underpin our shared goal of responsible development of advanced AI systems,” it added. 

The U.S. AI Safety Institute was established last year by the Commerce Department in response to President Biden’s executive order on AI. It is meant to lead the government’s efforts on AI safety and trust, particularly when it comes to evaluating advanced AI models. 

Both the House and Senate have advanced legislation out of committee that would support the effort to codify the U.S. AI Safety Institute. Tuesday’s letter urged the two chambers to come together on final legislation by the end of the year.

ARI President Brad Carson described such efforts as “an easy, bipartisan step forward Congress can take right now.” 

“After all the footwork this Congress has done to educate members on AI issues, this is the single most important AI policy lawmakers can pass before the end of the year,” he said in a statement.