Warren, Schmitt want changes to Pentagon’s procurement of AI and cloud computing tools

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Eric Schmitt have issued a bipartisan call for “meaningful regulation” to encourage smaller companies to compete for Pentagon contracts acquiring new artificial intelligence and cloud computing tools.

The Massachusetts Democrat and Missouri Republican introduced the Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act this month with the goal of giving small and medium-sized startups better chances to win the government’s business.

Ms. Warren said the legislation is necessary because of her concern that “all of our eggs are in one giant Silicon Valley basket.”

“Our new bill will make sure that as the Department of Defense keeps expanding its use of AI and cloud computing tools, it’s making good deals that will keep our information secure and our government resilient,” Ms. Warren said in a statement.

The bill would require the Department of Defense to administer competitive award processes for contracts, publish regular reports on competition in the AI sector, and protect government data stored in vendors’ systems.

The legislation directs the secretary of defense to oversee a competitive award process whenever contracting with any cloud, data or foundational model providers that already have government contracts worth at least $50 million in any of the preceding five years.

The liberal and conservative lawmakers came together last week to propose new AI regulations for the Pentagon just ahead of the unveiling of a fresh draft of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, one of the last must-pass bills on the 2024 congressional agenda. The defense spending and policy legislation released by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Saturday includes several AI-focused provisions, including about training and education and the technology’s use in auditing the department, among other things.

The bill also proposes the secretary of defense establish a pilot program to “develop near-term use cases and demonstrations of artificial intelligence for national security-related biotechnology applications.”

While lawmakers consider changes to AI policies affecting the Pentagon, the Department of Defense is busy working to meet the goals of its Replicator program. The department plans to field thousands of autonomous drones by August 2025 as part of the project, and it announced the acquisition of new drones last month.