US House panel advances bill to give Congress authority on AI chip exports

The measure gives Congress much licence to artifact AI exports to China and different US governmental adversaries.

The United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has overwhelmingly voted to beforehand a measure that would springiness Congress much powerfulness implicit artificial quality spot exports contempt pushback from White House AI tsar David Sacks and a societal media run against the legislation.

Representative Brian Mast of Florida, a Republican and the seat of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the “AI Overwatch Act” successful December aft US President Donald Trump greenlit shipments of Nvidia’s almighty H200 AI chips to China.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 4US forces prehend a seventh Venezuela-linked lipid tanker
• list 2 of 4‘Rupture successful the satellite order’: What Carney, satellite leaders said successful Davos
• list 3 of 4Can Europe interruption with Trump? A communicative of energy, defence, economical dependence
• list 4 of 4EU parliament refers Mercosur escaped commercialized woody to bloc’s apical court

The legislation, which inactive needs to wide the afloat House and Senate, would springiness the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee 30 days to reappraisal and perchance artifact licences issued to export precocious AI chips to China and different adversaries.

The measure claims that those “countries of concern” besides see countries beyond China, specified arsenic Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

The measure besides requires the US Department of Commerce to supply lawmakers with a full, elaborate exertion that shows that the chips volition not beryllium utilized for military, quality oregon surveillance applications conducted by adversarial nations to the US.

One root said the bill’s likelihood of being passed accrued aft a coordinated media run past week against the bill.

“These precocious chips request to autumn nether the aforesaid oversight arsenic immoderate different military-related system,” Mast said astatine a league connected Wednesday earlier the committee vote. “This is astir the aboriginal of subject warfare.”

The tech advocacy group, Americans for Responsible Innovation, which has been pushing for the bill, said successful a information expanse that the enactment volition “slow China’s advancement successful processing AI that could rival US capabilities”.

“America indispensable triumph the AI arms race,” Mast said successful a merchandise erstwhile helium archetypal introduced the measure precocious past year.

White House pushback

A spokesperson for Sacks and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Last week, Sacks shared a station from an X relationship called “Wall Street Mav” that claimed the measure was being orchestrated by “Never Trumpers” and erstwhile staffers of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden to undermine Trump’s authorization and his America First strategy.

The station singled retired the CEO of AI steadfast Anthropic, Dario Amodei, claiming helium hired erstwhile Biden staffers to propulsion the issue.

“Correct,” Sacks wrote.

An Anthropic spokesperson declined to remark connected the claims and the bill. But Amodei has been outspoken astir preventing China from getting precocious chips similar the H200.

“It would beryllium a large mistake to vessel these chips,” Amodei said connected Tuesday astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos, Switzerland. “I deliberation this is crazy. It’s a spot similar selling atomic weapons to North Korea.”

Conservative activistic Laura Loomer, among others, besides posted connected X disapproval of the measure past week, calling it “pro-China sabotage disguised arsenic oversight”.

Before the vote, Mast and different committee members rejected the online attacks.

“There are peculiar involvement groups retired determination close present with millions of dollars funded by the precise radical who volition nett disconnected the merchantability of these chips and others that … are waging a societal media run warfare … against this bill, which the president is advancing to support the nationalist information involvement of the United States of America,” said Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas. “Shame connected them.”

Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the US Commerce Department, which oversees export controls.