Week of September 11, 2023
Today marks 22 years since the September 11 attacks. The unforgettable tragedy rests heavy in the heart of the Nation and many of us who were here in Washington that day.
Both Chambers are back from recess this week and negotiations to fund the government by September 30th are in full swing. Lawmakers also have a full agenda packed with AI hearings and appropriations matters. On our radar this week are several committee hearings in both the House and Senate on various AI matters, the House Financial Services Committee probe of foreign investment oversight, and the start of the DOJ’s antitrust trial against Google’s search engine business practices.
What We’re Watching:
AI Hearings Abound: AI continues to be Congress’ shiny new toy as both Chambers are set to hold four hearings this week to examine a wide range of AI topics and concerns, including AI legislation oversight in Senate Judiciary, the need for transparency in AI in Senate Commerce, AI procurement and acquisition matters in Senate HSGAC, and the government’s use of AI in House Oversight. Not to mention the inaugural AI Insight Forum, hosted by Senate Majority Leader Schumer, featuring a high-profile lineup of attendees like Open AI’s Sam Altman, X/Tesla’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s Eric Schmidt. This flurry of activity demonstrates Congress’ continued educational endeavors around the new technology in hopes of creating effective regulations to harness the benefits while mitigating risks. Additional details on this week’s hearings are listed below.
Financial Services Hones in on CFIUS: On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee will take on issues related to U.S. foreign investment in a CFIUS oversight hearing. According to the hearing charter, the hearing will focus on issues regarding CFIUS jurisdiction to cover additional agriculture transactions; however, additional issues regarding President Biden’s recent Executive Order on outbound investment review are likely to arise. And while Members of the public will hear from Treasury’s Paul Rosen, Lawmakers will continue the hearing in a closed and classified setting to hear from DNI Director Lucas Cadena, Treasury's Brian Reissaus, Commerce's Adam Vaccaro, and DOD's Halimah Najieb-Locke.
DOJ Takes on Big Tech Antitrust: This week kicks off one of the biggest tech monopoly cases in decades, as Google heads to court against the Department of Justice over the company’s alleged monopolistic search engine practices. The DOJ, with support from 14 state attorney’s general, filed suit against Google in 2021, claiming that the company illegally uses its funding to block competitors in its search engine business practices. The DOJ argues that the contracts Google has with other large tech companies have hindered the ability of competitors to engage against the tech giant, ridding the market of diversity and innovative services. The case comes as Google recently struck a deal in another antitrust case against attorneys general in 36 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in which they reached a settlement to resolve claims that Google engaged in monopolistic practices over the company’s mobile app store policies. The settlement comes just two months ahead of the expected trial date of November 7.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Select Committee on China hearing on CCP and U.S. Financial Stability - Tuesday, September 12 at 8:30 PM ET
Senate Banking hearing on Oversight of the SEC - Tuesday, September 12 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate HSGAC hearing on mitigating supply chain threats - Tuesday, September 12 at 10:15 AM ET
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on AI legislation - Tuesday, September 12 at 2:30 PM ET
Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing on transparency in AI - Tuesday, September 12 at 2:30 PM ET
House Financial Services hearing on oversight of CFIUS - Wednesday, September 13 at 10:00 AM ET
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on subscriptions in the video marketplace - Wednesday, September 13 at 2:00 PM ET
Senate HSGAC hearing on AI through acquisition and procurement - Thursday, September 14 at 10:00 AM ET
House Science hearing on DOE’s emerging technology - Thursday, September 14 at 10:00 AM ET
House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on Basel III - Thursday, September 14 at 10:00 AM ET
House Oversight Subcommittee hearing on Federal Agency Use of AI - Thursday, September 14 at 1:00 PM ET
House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on CBDCs - Thursday, September 14 at 2:00 PM ET
Tech Events
ExecutiveBiz holds - Trusted AI and Autonomy Forum - Tuesday, September 12 at 8:00 AM ET
Washington Post Live - Senate AI Caucus Co-Chairs on bipartisan efforts to regulate AI - Tuesday, September 12 at 12:00 PM ET
The Center for Strategic and International Studies International Security Program - "Next War Online: Using Cyber Games to Understand Emerging Threats" - Tuesday, September 12 at 1:00 PM ET
NAIAC Meeting - Tuesday, September 12 at 2:00 PM ET
The Hudson Institute - "Quantum Computing and Avenues for U.S.-Japanese Cooperation" - Tuesday, September 12 at 3:00 PM ET
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - "Understanding Digital Public Infrastructure in the Global Development Context" - Wednesday, September 13 at 10:00 AM ET
The Center for a New American Security - "Cyber Resiliency: Discussing the 2023 DoD Cyber Strategy" - Wednesday, September 13 at 1:30 PM ET
The R Street Institute - “The Overlooked Risk in Our Pockets: Cybersecurity Risks in Mobile Devices" - Wednesday, September 13 at 2:00 PM ET
The Center on Regulation and Markets - “Frontier AI systems to evaluate the risks, discuss how to proactively regulate them, and examine the potential pitfalls” - Thursday, September 14 at 1:30 PM ET
Bipartisan Policy Center - The Future of AI Governance - Thursday, September 14 at 2:00 PM ET
R Street Institute - AI, Energy and the Future of High-Powered Computing - Thursday, September 14 at 4:00 PM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
Gaming Reimagined…. On September 11, 1977, Atari released their Video Computer System (known as the VCS and later as the Atari 2600). It took two years for the VCS to gain traction, but by 1979 it was the best selling gift of the Christmas season. Once it was established, the Atari VCS took the market by storm, popularized home video gaming, and helped cement the video game.
