VET Artificial Intelligence Act

This bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create voluntary technical guidelines and specifications for internal and external assurance of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, and establishes an advisory committee and a study on the assurance sector. It does not mandate any requirements or create new regulatory programs.

Sec. 3, Definitions: Defines key terms including 'artificial intelligence system' as a machine-based system that infers outputs from inputs; 'developer' as an entity that builds, designs, codes, produces, trains, or owns an AI system; 'deployer' as an entity that operates an AI system; 'internal artificial intelligence assurance' as an independent evaluation by the party being evaluated; and 'external artificial intelligence assurance' as an independent evaluation by a nonaffiliated third party.

Sec. 4, Voluntary assurance technical guidelines and specifications: Within one year, the NIST Director must develop and update every two years voluntary technical guidelines and specifications for internal and external AI assurance. These guidelines must address consumer privacy safeguards, harm mitigation, dataset quality, documentation, governance controls, and other elements. The Director must solicit public comment, hold workshops, and publish the guidelines on the NIST website.

Sec. 5, Qualifications advisory committee: Within 90 days of publishing the guidelines, the Secretary of Commerce must establish an advisory committee of up to 20 experts from academia, industry, consumer groups, and other sectors. The committee must review case studies on licensure, certification, or accreditation and submit a report within one year with recommendations on qualifications and independence for assurance parties and whether existing accreditation programs can be used.

Sec. 6, Study and report on entities that conduct assurances: Within 90 days of publishing the guidelines, the Secretary must study the capabilities of entities that conduct internal and external AI assurance, including personnel, tools, infrastructure, and market demand. Within one year, the Secretary must report to Congress with recommendations for improving capabilities, descriptions of best practices, and conclusions on using existing NIST-accredited laboratories.