June 2023 U.S. Tech Policy Roundup

Rachel Lau, Kennedy Patlan, and Alex Kennedy work with leading public interest foundations and nonprofits on technology policy issues at Freedman Consulting, LLC. Alison Talty, a Freedman Consulting Phillip Bevington policy & research intern, also contributed to this article. Washington, DC. Thursday, July 22, 2023: the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology hosts a hearing titled Artificial Intelligence: Advancing Innovation Towards the National Interest AI took the spotlight for much of June: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) launched the SAFE Innovation Framework for establishing legislative priorities on AI, the National AI Advisory Committee published its first report, and over 60 civil society organizations called on the White House and federal agencies to prioritize civil rights protections and equity provisions in AI policy. Early in the month, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) expressed interest in proposing a new agency to coordinate AI issues, alongside other proposals for new digital agencies. Later, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing, “Artificial Intelligence: Advancing Innovation Towards the National Interest,” which included testimonies from business, academic, and civil society representatives.  Google urged the federal government to keep AI oversight spread across multiple agencies, while Meta laid out how it deploys AI across its platforms. Tech policy activity outside AI spanned a wide range of concerns. Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), who opposed a variety of tech antitrust bills in the previous Congress, replaced Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) as the Democrats’ ranking member for the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust….June 2023 U.S. Tech Policy Roundup