AI Public Awareness and Education Act

Full Title:
Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act

Summary#

This bill would require the Secretary of Commerce to set up a public awareness, education, and consumer literacy campaign about artificial intelligence (AI). The Secretary would have 180 days after enactment to start the campaign and would work with Federal agencies such as NIST and NTIA. The campaign must provide information about how common AI is in daily life and improve "AI consumer literacy," meaning people’s ability to understand AI capabilities and limits and use information about AI products and services.

The campaign must: develop measurable key performance indicators (like audience reach and engagement) and collect baseline data; share information about consumer rights related to AI; promote best practices and tools to detect provenance of digital media (including deepfakes and content from chatbots); identify populations vulnerable to AI-enabled scams (such as seniors) and conduct targeted outreach; produce and distribute materials on AI tasks, commercial uses, limitations, privacy best practices, workforce opportunities, and domain-specific use cases (health, finance, creative work, etc.); consult the Small Business Administration for small-business materials; consider regional and demographic needs; coordinate with state and local partners; update materials yearly; provide materials in multiple languages and on a mobile-friendly website; and distribute materials through TV, radio, internet platforms, and SBA resource partners. The Secretary may use qualified private or nonprofit groups to help with distribution.

The Secretary must consult many stakeholders (academia, industry, community organizations, state/local/tribal officials) and specified Federal officials. The Secretary must report to Congressional committees within one year of starting the campaign and annually until the campaign ends. The campaign would end five years after enactment. The bill states no additional funds are authorized for carrying out the Act.

What it means for you#

  • If enacted, the Commerce Department would create and share plain-language information about where AI is used, what it can and cannot do, and how to ask providers questions about AI products.
  • Materials are to be available in multiple languages and on a mobile-friendly website, and would be distributed on TV, radio, and online platforms.
  • Some outreach would be targeted at people at higher risk of AI-enabled fraud (for example, senior citizens) and at small business owners through SBA partners.
  • The campaign would update materials yearly to reflect new AI developments and would run for up to five years after enactment.

Expenses#

  • The bill states: "No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this Act."
  • No publicly available information on the specific budget, staffing sources, or how existing funds would be used to implement the campaign.

Proponents' View#

  • The bill’s text shows sponsors intend the campaign to increase public knowledge about AI, improve AI consumer literacy, help people understand their rights with respect to AI, promote methods to detect provenance of digital media (including deepfakes), provide targeted outreach to vulnerable groups, support small businesses with relevant materials, and report on campaign outcomes to Congress.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.