Commerce Department Solicits Public Input to Inform AI-Enabled Data Distribution Plan

The Department of Commerce is inviting industry experts, researchers, civil society organizations and other members of the public to respond to a request for information seeking to inform the development of artificial intelligence-ready open data assets and data dissemination standards.

The agency plans to use generative AI and other advanced AI applications to enhance how it creates, curates and distributes data to the American public.

Information gathered through the RFI is expected to enable a better understanding of existing methods to integrate such technologies into the open data distribution processes, according to the notice posted on the Federal Register.

The Commerce Department said it is more interested in GenAI applications that can “digest disparate sources of text, images, audio, video, and other types of information to produce new content.”

The agency, however, noted that while AI technology can bring operational improvements, it comes with unauthorized data access and manipulation risks.

The Commerce Department asked the public to include in their responses the ways to ensure data integrity, accessibility and quality when using AI technologies.

All comments must be submitted by July 16.