House lawmakers announced plans to improve the use of artificial intelligence and increase the government’s cyber workforce through new bills in 2019 that would provide funding and set standards in the public and private sectors, Federal News Network reported Monday. Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., said they want to increase coordination between the government and industry to explore and expand investments in AI technologies.
“Artificial intelligence matters because it will impact every single industry,†Hurd said. “We need to make sure we are aligning research in the federal government and the private sector, to make sure we are aligning the standards for the workforce, and we are training the workforce of the future. We need to make sure we are working with our international partners on this.â€
The Texas representative said he’s working on a cyber national guard bill to increase the number cyber experts in the future. Hurd also aims to push the Senate to increase its budget for the Technology Modernization Fund in 2019 after the House agreed to provide $150M in the coming year.
Meanwhile, Kelly also plans to introduce a separate bill to improve the security of connected devices by requiring basic cybersecurity standards on government-purchased Internet of Things devices.
Kelly and Hurd serve in the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on IT.
