Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, Section 237 ("Pilot program on use of artificial intelligence for certain workflow and operations tasks")

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: FY2025 NDAA;NDAA provisions
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2024-12-23

Risk subdomain coverage

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

• Loss of human agency and autonomy
• Competitive dynamics
• Governance failure
• 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 brief implicit mentions of approximately 3-4 subdomains. The primary focus is on establishing a pilot program rather than addressing AI risks. Limited coverage relates to system safety (7.3), governance structures (6.5), and potentially competitive dynamics (6.4). The document does not substantively address risks but rather establishes a framework for AI implementation.

Sector coverage

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

• National Security

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

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Professional & Technical Services
• Management, Administrative & Support Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs AI use within the National Security sector, specifically within Department of Defense operations. It also has secondary coverage of Manufacturing (depots and shipyards) and Professional and Technical Services (contract administration) as these are operational functions within the DoD.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding statutory provision enacted by the United States Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, containing mandatory obligations on the Secretary of Defense with specific timelines and reporting requirements.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, which is enacted by the United States Congress as the legislative authority.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor, AI_Deployer
• Entities: Secretary of Defense; Department of Defense; Defense Contract Management Agency; Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; Secretary of the Army; Secretary of the Navy; Secretary of the Air Force
• Summary: The pilot program applies to the Secretary of Defense and various Department of Defense entities responsible for implementing AI-enabled software in depots, shipyards, manufacturing facilities, and contract administration. These entities will be deploying the AI systems.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives
• Summary: Congressional oversight is established through mandatory reporting requirements to the Armed Services Committees, which have authority to review implementation and hold the Department accountable.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives; Secretary of Defense
• Summary: The Congressional Armed Services Committees will monitor through required reporting, while the Secretary of Defense is responsible for internal monitoring and evaluation of the pilot program's effectiveness.

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
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily covers the Deploy and Operate and Monitor stages of the AI lifecycle, with some coverage of Plan and Design and Verify and Validate stages. It focuses on implementing AI-enabled software in operational settings and evaluating its performance through a pilot program.

Technical Scope

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

• AI Systems
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions AI-enabled software but does not specify particular AI model types, architectures, or technical thresholds. The focus is on practical deployment of AI systems for workflow optimization rather than technical AI specifications.