Congress's bipartisan task force on artificial intelligence (AI) released its long-anticipated report this week, detailing strategies for how the U.S. can protect itself against emerging AI-related threats while ensuring the nation remains a leader in innovation within this rapidly evolving sector.

Responses to the report, which sought to strike a "flexible sectoral regulatory framework," were positive and with mixed concerns. 

"The Task Force report offers a thoughtful and forward-thinking framework that balances AI's transformative economic potential with the imperative to address legitimate safety concerns," said Dr. Vahid Behzadan, a professor in the computer science department at the University of New Haven. "That said, there's still work to be done."

He pointed to the importance of developing an "international collaboration strategy," especially with U.S. allies, the need to establish "clearer priorities among the many recommendations provided" and the need for more guidance on market competition and consolidation. 

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The Center for AI Policy, a nonpartisan research organization based in the nation's capital, issued a press release that commended lawmakers for their work on the report. But the group echoed Behzadan's remarks about the need for more detail.

"The body of the report does not contain enough detail about how or when these frameworks will be created," the group said after the report's release. It also expressed concern over the report's lack of emphasis on "catastrophic risks" posed by AI.

"Congress has deliberated on AI for two years now, and it is time to start moving forward with decisive action," the press release stated. 

Yaron Litwin is the chief marketing officer for Canopy, a digital parenting app and an expert in how AI technology is revolutionizing parental control and internet safety. He said "we need faster" and "stronger" protections than what was laid out in the report. "To me, the report appears more business-friendly than not."

The report pointed out that it would be "unreasonable to expect Congress to enact legislation this year that could serve as its last word on AI policy." But while Congress may be slow to act, some states have already moved the ball forward on regulating AI, and experts who spoke to Fox News Digital said the report could serve to bolster those efforts.

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Lawmakers in Colorado enacted the first comprehensive piece of AI legislation this year, which placed certain obligations on developers of "high-risk artificial intelligence systems." Meanwhile, in California, lawmakers passed a bill this month aiming to regulate AI in health care.

"These federal soft law standards could work alongside state efforts to protect consumers and give businesses clear, consistent, and science-based federal guidelines," said Tatiana Rice, Deputy Director for U.S. Legislation at the Future of Privacy Forum, a nonprofit that explores challenges posed by technological innovation. Rice pointed out that an increasing number of state AI laws "include carveouts or assumptions of compliance if businesses adhere to federally recognized standards," and she noted that Congress's approach will likely "make it easier for businesses to meet legal requirements, incentivize consumer trust and safety, and reduce regulatory complexity."

Craig Albright, Senior Vice President of U.S. Government Relations for the Business Software Alliance, posited that the report could likely encourage states "to be more aggressively [sic] next year than what we are expecting to see in Congress."

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On the issue of whether the 25-page report strikes the balance that lawmakers were hoping for in terms of balancing regulation with the need to foster innovation, experts who spoke to Fox News Digital expressed optimism.

"The House AI Working Group report strikes the right tone," Dakota State University President José-Marie Griffiths told Fox News Digital. Griffiths has advised both the Senate and White House on AI policy, including Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., co-chair of the Senate AI Caucus. 

"While there will always be debate over regulation versus not enough government oversight, the report is a step in the right direction," said Griffiths. "With the development of any new technology, regulation requires a nuanced and flexible approach. My recommendation going forward will be for Congress to pick and choose to legislate on specific aspects of AI policy."

Griffiths' reaction to the report was echoed by others who warned that in such a rapidly evolving industry, it will be critical not to get trigger-happy with regulations that could soon become obsolete.

"It is encouraging that the report suggests taking an incremental approach to AI policy," said JD Harriman, a partner at Foundation Law Group who has worked as outside patent council at technology corporations like Apple and Pixar. "Many areas of technology have been stifled by over-regulation before a complete understanding of the technology was undertaken."

"The task force’s honesty – ‘We don’t know what we don’t know’ – is both refreshing and daunting," added Cassidy Reid, the founder of Women in Automation, a nonprofit group that supports women in the tech sector. "It acknowledges the speed of AI’s evolution but raises a bigger question: Are we ready to govern something so inherently unpredictable?"

The House task force on artificial intelligence (AI) is urging the U.S. government to aim for "a flexible sectoral regulatory framework" for the technology in a nearly 300-page report released Tuesday morning.

The report held up a light-touch approach to regulation, as well as "a thriving innovation ecosystem" as pillars that help keep the U.S. a leader in AI. "If maintained, these strengths will help our country remain the world’s undisputed leader in the responsible design, development, and deployment of AI," the report read.

The task force is led by California Reps. Jay Obernolte, a Republican, and Ted Lieu, a Democrat, and was commissioned by House leaders as Congress scrambles to get ahead of rapidly advancing AI technology. However, the new report cautioned lawmakers to remain fluid to keep up with AI’s evolving nature while making several recommendations on how to approach a "carefully designed, durable policy framework."

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"It is unreasonable to expect Congress to enact legislation this year that could serve as its last word on AI policy," the report read. "Policy will likely need to adapt and evolve in tandem with advances in AI."

The task force also encouraged existing "sector-specific regulators within federal agencies" to "use their existing authority to respond to AI use within their individual domains of expertise and the context of the AI’s use." While encouraging innovation, however, the report also cautions AI regulators to "focus on human impact and human freedom," keeping people at the center of their decision-making.

More specific recommendations on government use encourage federal offices to use AI to streamline administration and other everyday tasks – but urge them to "be wary of algorithm-informed decision-making." It also called for more transparency in government use of AI and the adoption of standards for government AI use. The report also acknowledged the harm AI poses to society, particularly in the arena of civil rights.

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"Improper use of AI can violate laws and deprive Americans of our most important rights," the report read. "Understanding the possible flaws and shortcomings of AI models can mitigate potentially harmful uses of AI."

It called on the government to explore guardrails for mitigating flaws in decision-making involving AI, and for agencies to be prepared to identify and protect against "discriminatory decision-making." The task force also encouraged more education on AI literacy in kindergarten through high school to prepare American youth for a world where AI permeates nearly every facet of society. For young adults, it called for the government to help facilitate public-private partnerships in the AI jobs sector. 

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Other recommendations touched on the realms of health care, data privacy, and national security – a testament to AI’s ubiquity.

"While the House AI Task Force has engaged in a robust process of interviews, meetings, and stakeholder roundtables, many issues of significant relevance to AI were not fully explored by the Task Force or this report. The House AI Task Force encourages members, committees of jurisdiction, and future congresses to continue to investigate opportunities and challenges related to AI," the closing pages read.

Among those issues are export controls, election integrity, law enforcement, and transportation.

On Tuesday, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released presidentially-mandated guidance that lays out how schools' use of artificial intelligence (AI) can be discriminatory toward minority and transgender students, "likely" opening them up to federal investigations.

President Biden signed Executive Order 14110 last year mandating that the Education Department develop resources, policies and guidance regarding AI in schools to help ensure responsible and non-discriminatory use, "including the impact AI systems have on vulnerable and underserved communities."

"The growing use of AI in schools, including for instructional and school safety purposes, and AI’s ability to operate on a mass scale can create or contribute to discrimination," the Education Department's guidance states. "This resource provides information regarding federal civil rights laws in OCR’s jurisdiction and includes examples of types of incidents that could, depending on the facts and circumstances, present OCR with sufficient reason to open an investigation." 

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The first seven examples laid out in the guidance were scenarios where AI could potentially deny benefits, unfairly single out students or exclude them based on race, color or national origin. 

One scenario suggested that a plagiarism checker, run using generative AI with "a high error rate when evaluating essays written by non-native English speakers," could be racist, unbeknownst to a teacher. Nonetheless, if the school continues using the racist plagiarism checker after students and parents complain, it could "likely" lead to a federal civil rights investigation, the guidance states. 

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Another example suggested that schools using AI to determine appropriate disciplinary procedures for students could also be exhibiting a racial bias.

"Significant disparities by race have persisted in the school’s application of student discipline, and Black students are disciplined more frequently and more harshly than other similarly situated students of another race," the guidance reads. "As a result, the historic school discipline data that the software relies on reflects the school’s discriminatory disciplinary practices."

Other sections of the guidance touched on how AI could lead to sex discrimination, with one of the examples detailing a scenario in which AI could discriminate against students who do not conform to traditional gender norms. The scenario suggested that schools using facial recognition software to check students into school could improperly flag students as a security risk because "they do not conform to the technology’s assumptions as to what girls and boys should look like, based on the sex specified in their school records."

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The guidance notes that students who are falsely flagged can be subjected to "embarrassment and missed class time," and if administrators are "aware of the problem" but continue to use the screening software anyway, it could result in a Title IX violation and a likely investigation by civil rights officers.

Challenging discrimination within AI has been a focal point for the Biden administration, with top leaders at the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pledging in April of last year that they would begin using existing federal civil rights and consumer protection laws to crack down on AI systems that are discriminatory.

Those calls from leaders within the Biden administration preceded the president's October 2023 executive order mandating various initiatives to root out discrimination in AI, including Tuesday's published guidance from the Department of Education.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would be nominating former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon to be the next leader of the Department of Education. 

The Department of Education did not supply Fox News Digital with any on-the-record comments prior to publication of this story.