Ranking Member Morelle Opening Remarks at Hearing on AI in the Legislative Branch

Hearing

“Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for the introduction and also for convening this important hearing.

And very grateful to you and your staff who have worked tirelessly to make this a bipartisan conversation.

It is critically important and I look forward to discussing the ways that recent innovations in generative artificial intelligence can improve the efficiency of the legislative branch operations and help us better serve our constituents.

I’d want to express appreciation to all the folks who have gathered with us to speak on this issue.

So, I’m looking forward to listening to them and we have witnesses, as you said, from the Library of Congress, Government Publishing Office, Government Accountability Office, and Chief Administrative Office.

So, I’m grateful to all of you and your organizations – which are the backbone of Congress – on which we rely each and every day to provide us with administrative, research, and technical tools that we need to carry out all of our constitutional duties.

So, I am looking forward to discussing your work with AI so far, and how the Committee can help best support your efforts in any of your responsibilities.

Over the past several years, the combination of enhanced computer power, a proliferation of data, improvements to underlying models, and an increased availability of AI tools has led to widespread use of AI across sectors. Today, it would be difficult if not impossible to find a single business or single industry that has not, or will not soon, be impacted by advancements in this technology.

And the United States Government is no exception. Here in the legislative branch for instance:

The Library of Congress is using AI to create standardized records from eBooks, extract data from historic documents, and help blind and print disabled patrons access library resources.

At the same time, the Copyright Office is grappling with how it should consider registration applications for AI produced works.

The Government Publishing Office is using AI to transcribe meetings, and exploring ways to make proofreaders more efficient, public information more accessible, and data more secure.

The House Chief Administrative Office is using AI to supplement its helpdesk services and working with Member offices to use the technology to deconflict schedules and assist in constituent correspondence, things that we are all intimately involved in.

And the Government Accountability Office has established a lab to design and implement new AI technologies, as well as an internal working group to analyze AI governance issues. All of these are critically important, and all very exciting.

AI can simplify complex tasks, provide insights into data, build capacity, improve workflows, and more.

But for all the exciting opportunities that AI presents, we must also be cognizant of its threats and risks.

We’ve seen some of the dangers associated with AI in the headlines recently. Last week, an unknown party attempted to confuse and disenfranchise New Hampshire voters using AI-generated robocalls imitating the voice of President Biden in advance of the primary election.

Recognizing that grave threat that AI may pose to our elections, I asked the Attorney General of the United States to immediately investigate this attempt at election subversion, and to ward off future actors who would attempt to use generative AI to undermine our nations elections.

Deepfake pornography, which makes up 96% of all deepfakes online, almost exclusively targets women, is becoming increasingly pervasive.

Astoundingly, it’s not a federal crime, although I have a bill, bipartisan bill, that I introduced with Congressman Kean – The Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act – which would change that. We’ve seen elements of that with Taylor Swift’s situation the past week.

Threats and risks exist here in the legislative branch too. And we need to be mindful of them as we establish what will be the operating culture for Congressional AI use for years to come.

What are the implications of the institutional workforce here? How do we control for bias and other data quality issues that affect the trustworthiness of these systems? They’re worth, certainly questions that are important to sort out as we work through this.

To that end, I’m grateful that the Committee and our institutional partners have utilized the Administration’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI framework, and related executive orders, as models for the legislative branch as it relates to AI governance policies.

With these as a guide, Congress I think will be better equipped to minimize risk and adopt this technology responsibly and ethically.

It has great promise, great risks, but I think the fact that we’re gathered here, and Mr. Chairman thank you, again to you and your staff for bringing us together and bringing all the witnesses to testify on this incredibly important issue so with that I yield back.

Thank you.”

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