H.R. 9626, To direct the Department of Defense to develop a plan for the establishment of a secure computing and data storage environment for the testing of artificial intelligence trained on biological data, and for other purposes.

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Defunct
• Most recent activity date: 2025-01-03

Risk subdomain coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• AI system security vulnerabilities
• Cyberattacks, weapon development or use
• Governance failure
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities
• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has minimal coverage of AI risk domains, with limited focus on AI system security (2.2) through its emphasis on secure computing environments, and implicit coverage of governance structures (6.5) through establishment of oversight mechanisms. The document primarily addresses infrastructure and process rather than specific AI risks or harms.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Scientific Research & Development Services
• National Security

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Educational Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs AI use in the National Security sector, with secondary coverage of Scientific Research and Development Services through its focus on AI-biotechnology research projects. The document establishes infrastructure for testing AI models trained on biological data for defense applications.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative instrument (H.R. 9626) from the United States Congress that uses mandatory language throughout and establishes enforceable obligations on the Department of Defense, with Congressional oversight mechanisms.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is a Congressional bill (H.R. 9626) proposed by the United States Congress, as indicated by the bill number format and legislative structure.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor, AI_Developer
• Entities: Department of Defense; Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer; Test Resource Management Center; AI Accelerator of the Department of the Air Force; Department of Defense laboratories; Department-funded laboratories of academic institutions; private entities
• Summary: The document primarily targets the Department of Defense and its components, requiring them to establish and manage the AIxBio sandbox. It also applies to organizations and entities involved in AI and biotechnology projects that may use the sandbox, including private entities and academic institutions.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives
• Summary: The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is designated as the responsible official for managing and overseeing the sandbox activities. Congressional oversight is provided through the Armed Services Committees, which receive reports and briefings.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives; Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
• Summary: The Congressional Armed Services Committees serve as the primary monitoring body through required reports and briefings. The Under Secretary also has ongoing oversight responsibilities for the sandbox operations.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document covers multiple AI lifecycle stages with primary focus on Build and Use Model, Verify and Validate, and Deploy stages. It addresses the testing of AI models trained on biological data and the development of products from these models, with emphasis on validation and testing infrastructure.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• Predictive AI
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions AI models trained on biological data and addresses the development of products at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. It does not specifically mention frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, generative AI, or compute thresholds.