Week of November 27, 2023
We hope you had a restful Thanksgiving to recharge ahead of what is sure to be a busy holiday season. Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess today and is in the final sprint to the year’s end with a laundry list of must-past items. While the so-called ladder CR passed before the recess takes a bit of pressure off Members to keep the federal government afloat, Congress must now pass the annual NDAA to avoid breaking the 60 year tradition of authorizing defense funding. Additionally, we are keeping close watch on several federal programs set to expire at the end of the year without action, including FISA Section 702, continuation of the Farm Bill and the FAA reauthorization. This week, we’ll be tracking more movement on AI, including another Senate AI Insight Forum as well as a health care-focused AI subcommittee hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. CFPB Director Chopra will be in the hearing hot seat this week for the agency’s semi-annual report to Congress in the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees.
What We’re Watching:
Schumer’s Next AI Insight Forum: Majority Leader Schumer is holding another insight forum this Wednesday with the aim of finding policy solutions to some of the most discussed AI concerns - transparency and copyright protections. Specifically, the forum will be split into two focus areas - the first on transparency and explainability and the second on copyright intellectual property. Members will focus on the benefits and limitations of transparency regimes, as well as what AI means for creators and inventors. The panel will consist of both industry stakeholders and academic experts working on several different types of AI models, including open source models, and discuss ways to ensure transparency and copyright protections. This is the seventh installment of Majority Leader Schumer’s AI Insight Forums, and additional forums are expected to continue into the new year.
House E&C Examines AI and Health Care: The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee is holding a hearing on Wednesday to examine the ways in which AI is currently being deployed in health care and how it can transform patient services in the future. Lawmakers will likely express their concerns about privacy violations that come along with training health-related algorithms, and explore guardrails to protect privacy. Various subcommittees on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have held several hearings focused on topic-specific concerns of AI, and privacy remains a recurring theme in each of them.
Chopra In Hearing Hot Seat: CFPB Chair Rohit Chopra will make his semi-annual appearance in the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees this week, teeing up what are sure to be heated discussions from some Members. The CFPB has garnered scrutiny from Republicans for allegedly overstepping the Agency’s regulatory authority as well as claims that the CFPB is politicized. Chopra will touch on the CFPB’s recent actions, such as its proposed rule to supervise larger nonbank companies, including payment apps and digital wallets, and concerns around the CFPB small-business data collection rule.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on AI and health care - Wednesday, November 29 at 10:30 AM ET
HFSC oversight hearing of CFPB - Wednesday, November 29 at 10:00 AM ET
House Oversight Cyber Subcommittee hearing on the federal software supply chain - Wednesday, November 29 at 2:00 PM ET
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on broadband - Thursday, November 30 at 10:30 AM ET
Senate Banking oversight hearing of CFPB - Thursday, November 30 at 10:15 AM ET
Tech Events
The American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association - Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference - November 28-30
Axios - AI+ Summit on "the path forward for AI policy, regulation, innovation and how it could impact industries and daily life" - Tuesday, November 28 at 9:30 AM ET
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - "Advancing Digital Transformation and Digital Public Infrastructure: The Role of the Private Sector" - Wednesday, November 29 at 9:30 AM ET
Foreign Policy - "Strategies for Effective AI Governance," part of the "Promise Over Peril" series on the realities and risks of generative AI - Wednesday, November 29 at 10:00 AM ET
The Future Society - Fifth Athens Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence and the Rule of Law forum - November 30-December 1 - Thursday, November 30 at 10:00 AM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
Just In Time For Holiday Family Photos…. On November 28, 1948, 57 units of the first commercial instant camera, the Polaroid Land Camera Model 95, went on sale at the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston. Producing sepia toned photographs in about one minute, the Model 95 became a hit almost as quickly. Polaroid believed that 57 units would be enough last through the holiday season, but all 57 units and all the film available were sold on the first day. It was simple to use, portable, and the instant gratification that came from the self-developing film made the camera very popular. True black-and-white instant film was released in 1950, but Polaroid didn’t create color film until 1963. Polaroid produced their instant film cameras until 2008.
