House lawmakers seek more AI transparency from the SBA

The House Small Business Committee continued its push this week to make the agency it oversees embrace artificial intelligence in its work, advancing a new AI-focused bill aimed at more transparency around those efforts. 

In a Wednesday markup, the committee unanimously approved the SBA Artificial Intelligence Utilization Act (H.R. 8881) from Reps. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., and George Latimer, D-N.Y. The legislation would require the Small Business Administration to provide a yearly report to Congress on its use of AI and machine learning, detailing the benefits, risks and related issues.

Additional oversight on SBA’s AI program from the committee comes in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report this month that called attention to years of SBA failures to comply with federal requirements on AI use case inventories. 

In March, the agency publicly posted its inventory — two months past the Office of Management and Budget deadline, but for the first time in SBA history nevertheless.

The House committee spent the early part of this year on legislation to provide the SBA with more AI tools to help its clients. In January, the full chamber passed both the AI for Main Street Act and the AI Wisdom for Innovative Small Enterprises (AI-WISE) Act. 

The former bill, led by Reps. Mark Alford, R-Mo., and Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., directs the SBA’s Small Business Development Centers to provide guidance, training and outreach to small businesses on any matters tied to AI. The latter bill, from Scholten and Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont., charges the SBA with creating AI resources and learning modules for small businesses to be hosted on an existing agency platform. 

Finstad said during Wednesday’s markup that the committee’s latest bill is simply a “commonsense oversight measure” that would neither mandate the use of AI at the SBA nor “prohibit innovation” with the technology at the agency. It’s simply about providing Congress with better “visibility into these new tools” and determining “whether they are helping the SBA better fulfill its mission for small businesses as technology evolves,” he said.

Latimer echoed Finstad’s comments, noting that the legislation will force the agency to take better stock of AI use cases, “an important step” for small businesses that should know the benefits and risks of the technology. 

“It reflects that we as a nation are dealing with the growth of AI with potential uses that carry great benefit, potential benefit, and great potential risks,” the New York Democrat said. “And there’s questions of accuracy and data privacy that affect all of us … on both sides of the aisle.”

The House Small Business Committee advanced two other tech-related bills Wednesday, both by 23-0 margins. 

The Small Business Technological Act (H.R. 915) from Alford and Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., would clarify that the SBA can dole out 7(a) loans for small businesses to access modern business software, cloud-computing services, AI tools and other technologies that power business operations. 

“This bill does not create a new program, and it does not increase the size or scope of the 7(a) program,” Alford said. “It simply updates SBA policy to reflect the realities of today’s economy, and it gives small businesses the certainty they need to invest in the tools required to grow and to compete.”

The Small Business Cybersecurity Assistance Evaluation Act (H.R. 8880) from Reps. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., and Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., meanwhile, would ask the GAO to evaluate cyber risks to small businesses.

“The GAO would also identify existing federal programs, initiatives, and capital resources available to help entrepreneurs prepare for and mitigate and defend themselves every single day against these attacks,” Simon said. “This bill is about ensuring that we have the best data available to craft effective policies that protect small businesses from these attacks.”