National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, Section 547 ("Pilot program for generative artificial intelligence and spatial computing for performance training and proficiency assessment")

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: NDAA provisions;U.S. federal laws;FY2026 NDAA
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2025-12-18

Risk subdomain coverage

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

• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal risk domain coverage, primarily addressing AI system safety and capability concerns through its pilot program structure. The focus is on testing and validation of AI training systems rather than addressing specific AI risks or harms.

Sector coverage

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

• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document governs AI use exclusively in the National Security sector, specifically within the U.S. Navy for military training and proficiency assessment purposes. No other economic sectors are regulated by this provision.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding statutory provision from the National Defense Authorization Act with mandatory language requiring the Secretary of the Navy to establish a pilot program with specific requirements and reporting obligations.

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 2026, which is proposed and enacted by the United States Congress as the legislative authority.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Secretary of the Navy; Department of the Navy
• Summary: The document explicitly directs the Secretary of the Navy to develop and implement the pilot program, making the Navy the primary target of this governance instrument.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Congressional defense committees
• Summary: The congressional defense committees serve as the enforcement mechanism through their oversight authority, receiving mandatory reports on program implementation and results.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Congressional defense committees; Secretary of the Navy
• Summary: The congressional defense committees monitor through the required reporting mechanism, while the Secretary of the Navy is responsible for internal monitoring and assessment 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
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily covers the Verify and Validate, Deploy, and Operate and Monitor stages of the AI lifecycle. It focuses on testing generative AI and spatial computing systems through a pilot program, assessing their effectiveness compared to other training methods, and monitoring results through mandatory reporting.

Technical Scope

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

• Generative AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions generative artificial intelligence and spatial computing. It does not reference AI models or AI systems as distinct concepts, nor does it mention frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, compute thresholds, or open-weight models. The focus is specifically on generative AI technology for training applications.