Civil society, industry groups speak out against proposed language to govern AI acquisition
In comments submitted to the Government Services Administration (GSA), Americans for Responsible Innovation has expressed “grave concerns” over GSA’s proposed procurement rules mandating that government be allowed to use acquired AI systems for “any lawful government purpose.” The organization warns that “lawful uses” may violate public norms on issues like privacy and policing as well as override vendor guardrails. ARI’s comment urges GSA to reconsider the proposed language in its draft AI Terms and Conditions.
During the public comment period which ended last week, a number of civil society groups and industry groups urged GSA against adoption of the “any lawful use” procurement language. The Business Software Alliance—whose members include OpenAI, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and IBM—warned that the proposal risks “materially compromising the US government’s efforts to not only adopt AI but also accelerate AI innovation.” A comment submitted by Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Protect Democracy Project, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) warned that the standard threatened to place a severe burden on innovators who “will face significant difficulty complying, as a wide range of “lawful purposes” are likely to be restricted by a given system’s model training or safety protocols.”
GSA, the agency responsible for most federal technology procurement, proposed draft language requiring AI model availability for any lawful purpose during a dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic. Rooted in Anthropic’s refusal to allow its AI models to be used for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, the dispute marked an escalation in the relationship between Washington and the tech sector.
For more on what this dispute means for defense innovation and procurement, read the latest op-ed from ARI VP of Policy Design & Delivery, Morgan Plummer, A policy gap is threatening the Pentagon’s AI innovation pipeline in DefenseScoop.
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Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy advocacy in the public interest, focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Learn more at ARI.us.