Game Changers: Artificial Intelligence

Chairman Will Hurd
Opening Statement
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Subcommittee on Information Technology Hearing
“Game Changers: Artificial Intelligence Part I”

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Welcome to the first hearing in a series of hearings on artificial intelligence. This series is an opportunity for the Subcommittee to take a deep dive into artificial intelligence. Today’s hearing is an opportunity to increase Congress’ understanding of artificial intelligence, including its development, uses, and the potential challenges and advantages of government adoption of artificial intelligence. We have four experts on that matter whom I look forward to hearing from.

In the next hearing we do in March, we will hear from government agencies about how they are or should be adopting artificial intelligence into their operations. How they will use AI to spend taxpayer dollars wisely and make each individual’s interactions with the government more efficient, effective, and secure. It is important that we understand both the risks and rewards of artificial intelligence, and in the third hearing in April we will discuss the appropriate roles of both the private and public sectors as artificial intelligence matures.

Artificial intelligence is a technology that transcends borders. We have allies and adversaries, both nation states and individual hackers, who are pursuing artificial intelligence with all they have because dominance in artificial intelligence is a guaranteed leg up in the realm of geopolitics and economics. At the end of this series it is my goal to ensure that we have a clear idea of what it takes for the United States to remain the world leader when it comes to artificial intelligence. Thoughtful engagement by legislators is key to this goal and I believe that this committee will be leaders on this topic.

So what is artificial intelligence? Hollywood’s portrayal of artificial intelligence is not accurate. Instead many of us are already using it every day – from song recommendations in Spotify to digital assistants that tell us the weather. And while these consumer applications are important, I am most excited about the possibility of using artificial intelligence in the government to defend our infrastructure and have better decision making because of the analytics that artificial intelligence can run.

In an environment of tightening resources, artificial intelligence can help us do more for less money and help to provide better citizen facing services. I thank the witnesses for being here today, and look forward to hearing and learning from you so that we can all benefit from the revolutionary opportunities AI provides us. As always, I’m honored to be exploring these issues, in a bipartisan fashion, I think the IT subcommittee is a leader on doing things in a bipartisan way, with my friend and Ranking Member, The Honorable Robin Kelly from the great state of Illinois.

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONIES

Name	Title	Organization	Panel	Document
Dr. Amir Khosrowshahi	Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Artificial Intelligence Products Group	Intel		Khosrowshahi-Intel-Statement-AI-2-14
Dr. Charles Isbell	Senior Associate Dean, College of Computing	Georgia Institute of Technology		Isbell-GeorgiaTech-Statement-AI-2-14
Dr. Oren Etzioni	Chief Executive Officer	Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence		Etzioni-Allen-Statement-AI-2-14
Dr. Ian Buck	Vice President and General Manager, Tesla Data Center Business	NVIDIA		Buck-NVIDIA-Statement-AI-2-14

Chairman Will Hurd
Opening Statement
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Subcommittee on Information Technology Hearing
“Game Changers: Artificial Intelligence Part II; AI and the Federal Government”

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Good afternoon and welcome to the Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Artificial Intelligence. This is the second hearing in a series of hearings on artificial intelligence. This series is an opportunity for the Subcommittee to take a deep dive into this issue. I have three main objectives when it comes to AI in government.

First, it should make every interaction an individual has with the federal government take less time, cost less money, and be more secure. I have wonderful caseworkers on staff who spend their time working to help constituents receive their veterans’ benefits or to help with Social Security. They are speaking everyday with people who are frustrated with how long it takes to resolve problems in the federal government. I believe with the adoption of AI we can improve the response time and in some cases, prevent these problems in the first place.

Second, AI should produce efficiencies and cost savings that will help us do more for less money and help to provide better, more transparent citizen facing services. This should help to restore the bonds of trust between citizens and their government. We have innovative companies, brilliant minds, hard-working people, and the rule of law. So we in the United States should lead on AI. And the federal government needs to be an active participant. Whether it is through basic and applied research and development that DARPA, NSF, and DHS are doing, or GSA’s work on procurement, the AI within the government needs to benefit those whom the government serves.

I thank the witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to hearing and learning from all of you. I will be honest at the beginning of this endeavor I was prepared to see much use of AI throughout the federal government and I think our panelists here today are going to show how we are doing some very interesting things within the federal government. As always, it’s an honor to explore these very important issues, in a bipartisan fashion, with my friend and Ranking Member, the one and only Robin Kelly from Illinois.

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONIES

Name	Title	Organization	Panel	Document
Mr. John O. Everett, Ph.D.	Deputy Director	Information Innovation Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency U.S. Department of Defense
Mr. Keith Nakasone	Deputy Assistant Commissioner	Information Technology Category Acquisition Management, U.S. General Services Administration		Nakasone-GSA-Statement-AI-II-3-7
Mr. James F. Kurose, Ph.D.	Assistant Director	Computer Science and Information Science and Engineering National Science Foundation		Kurose-NSF-Statement-AI-II-3-7
Mr. Douglas Maughan, Ph.D.	Division Director, Cybersecurity Division	Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security		Maughan-DHS-Statement-AI-II-3-7

 

GAME CHANGERS: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PART III, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONIES

Name	Title	Organization	Panel	Document
Gary Shapiro	President	Consumer Technology Association		Shapiro-CTA-Statement-AI-III-4-18
Jack Clark	Director	OpenAI		Clark-OpenAI-Statement-AI-III-4-18
Terah Lyons	Executive Director	Partnership on AI		Lyons-PAI-Statement-AI-III-4-18
Ben Buchanan	Postdoctoral Fellow, Cyber Security Project, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program	Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School		Buchanan-Harvard-Statement-AI-III-4-18