PATHS Act

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Proposed
• Most recent activity date: 2025-03-12

Risk subdomain coverage

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

• Governance failure

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal risk domain coverage, with only implicit mention of governance failure (6.5) through its focus on oversight mechanisms for AI procurement. The document is primarily procedural legislation about contracting authority rather than a comprehensive AI risk governance framework.

Sector coverage

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

• Public Administration (excl. National Security)
• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs the Public Administration excluding National Security sector and the National Security sector, as it regulates the Department of Homeland Security's procurement and use of AI technology for homeland security purposes. The governance is focused on internal government operations rather than regulating private sector AI use.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute enacted by the U.S. Congress that amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002, establishing mandatory legal obligations with specific deadlines and notification requirements.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress; Senate; House of Representatives
• Summary: The document is a federal statute enacted by Congress, as evidenced by the enacting clause and passage notation.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor, AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Entities: Department of Homeland Security; Secretary of Homeland Security
• Summary: The Act amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and directly regulates the Secretary's authority to use transaction mechanisms involving AI technology, making DHS both a governance actor and a deployer of AI systems.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives
• Summary: Congressional committees are designated to receive mandatory notifications and briefings, providing oversight and enforcement of the notification requirements.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives
• Summary: The same congressional committees that enforce also monitor implementation through the mandatory notification and briefing mechanism for AI-related transactions.

AI Lifecycle Stages

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

• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily governs the procurement and deployment stages of AI systems by establishing contracting authority and notification requirements. It does not address technical aspects of AI development, data collection, model building, or detailed operational monitoring.

Technical Scope

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

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions 'artificial intelligence technology' in the context of procurement and contracting authority but does not define AI or specify particular types of AI systems, models, or technical characteristics such as compute thresholds.