Senate Bills Seek to Explore and Address AI-Enabled Biosecurity Threats

Two Senate bills seek to explore the potential of artificial intelligence to create biosecurity risks and develop a plan to prepare the United States for such threats.

Under the Artificial Intelligence and Biosecurity Risk Assessment Act, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services would be required to conduct risk assessments to determine whether technical advancements in AI, such as open-source AI models and large language models, can be used to develop novel pathogens, viruses, bioweapons or chemical weapons.

The Strategy for Public Health Preparedness and Response to Artificial Intelligence Threats Act, meanwhile, would direct the HHS secretary to create and submit to Congress a strategy for public health preparedness and response and biodefense to address potential AI misuse that could result in national health security threats, FedScoop reported.

Sens. Ed Markey and Ted Budd introduced the bills as federal agencies are determining how the technology can be regulated to mitigate its risk without hindering innovation.