Letter to Senate HELP Committee on the Future of AI

VIA ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION – [email protected]

 

September 22, 2023

Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D.
Ranking Member
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

RE: Exploring Congress’ Framework for the Future of AI

Dear Senator Cassidy,

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) greatly appreciates your work to develop an initial framework highlighting key areas of potential congressional exploration to address the complexities of artificial intelligence (AI). While your framework touches upon all areas within the Senate HELP Committee’s jurisdiction (including health, education, and workforce considerations), our comments will focus on the advantages and drawbacks of AI in our health care system and in the workplace.

BPC is a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 to combine the best of ideas from both parties to promote health, security, and opportunity for all Americans. Through our recommendations, BPC’s Health Program strives to develop bipartisan policies across a variety of health issues that improve the nation’s health outcomes, reduce rising health care costs, improve equity in health services, and make quality health care available, affordable, and accessible for all.

Our comments reflect BPC’s extensive work in AI, digital health, and labor policy.

In 2019, BPC developed a National AI Strategy for Congress in collaboration with former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL). Through this initiative, BPC held a series of roundtables with government officials, industry representatives, civil society advocates, and academics. Subsequently, we produced four whitepapers on AI and the workforce, AI and national security, cementing U.S. AI leadership through research and development, and AI and ethics. These whitepapers provided several recommendations that H.Res.1250 incorporated.

We continue to educate Congress, analyze policy proposals, and engage with stakeholders on AI. Last year, we published a report on the European Union’s (EU’s) efforts to regulate AI and the key policy debates surrounding the EU AI Act. We explored academic, government, civil society, and industry perspectives for policymakers to consider when crafting AI impact assessments. More recently, BPC published pieces on defining high-risk, high-reward AI; face recognition technology governance challenges; generative AI and disinformation; and copyright in the era of generative AI. In a recent piece on workforce resilience and adaptability for the AI-driven economy, BPC identified three broad recommendations for policymakers aimed at promoting lifelong learning, empowering workers to develop skills that leverage and complement AI, and strengthening AI governance.

Additionally, BPC’s research on digital health technologies informs our comments on AI in health care, in particular on shaping a regulatory framework for the next generation of AI-enabled devices. Over the past year, BPC developed evidence-based, federal policy recommendations for the effective use of remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology. BPC assessed patients’ access to and use of RPM technologies and the impact of RPM on health outcomes, quality of care, and cost. BPC conducted a series of interviews and hosted a private roundtable with health policy experts, federal officials, technology leaders, providers, payers, consumers, and academics to gain insight into the opportunities and challenges related to remote patient monitoring.

BPC appreciates the opportunity to comment. Please do not hesitate to contact Maya Sandalow ([email protected]) if you would like to connect with BPC for additional information.

Sincerely,

 

Marilyn Serafini
Executive Director of the Health Program

Julia Harris
Associate Director of the Health Program

Tom Romanoff
Director of the Technology Program

Maya Sandalow
Senior Policy Analyst, Health Program