WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), member of the Senate Commerce Committee,introduced the Artificial Intelligence Weapons Accountability and Risk Evaluation (AWARE) Act, legislation to bolster the U.S. Department of Defense’s ethical technology leadership and transparency regarding AI-enabled defense systems. The legislation requires the Pentagon to report to Congress on risk assessments of the use of AI in our defense systems, including the accuracy, cybersecurity and privacy risks, and potential for civilian harm. These risk assessments must also include what AI systems have been exported to, or used by, foreign entities. 

“We know that AI-enabled weapons are exacerbating harm to civilians in warzones, and without effective oversight these systems could dangerously reshape our future. The United States has an obligation as a leader in AI innovation to also lead in AI ethics. We must be ready to answer questions about accuracy, security, privacy, and harm when we use AI-enabled weapons—and we need better data to do that,” said Sen. Welch. 

The AWARE Act will: 

• Create a risk assessment process that minimally evaluates the following criteria: bias, bias towards escalation, dependability, cybersecurity, privacy, and risk of civilian harm; 
• Apply the aforementioned risk assessment to any AI-enabled weapons, targeting, or decision support systems (that directly support weapons or targeting systems); 
• Require the Department of Defense to conduct an annual risk assessment of all covered systems, and conduct a new risk assessment when there are technology procurements, the weapons review process is initiated, or there is an update to an underlying AI model;  
• Catalogue the covered technologies and assessment outcomes in a risk ledger that is unclassified to the extent possible but may include a classified appendix; 
• Annotate which of these technologies have been exported, shared, or used by a foreign person or government; and 
• Report to Congress annually on the progress of implementing this Act, the ledger itself, and a report on the findings. 

The AWARE Act is endorsed by Access Now, Brennan Center for Justice, and Public Citizen. 

“The lack of transparency in the military’s use of AI poses significant risks to human rights,” said Willmary Escoto, U.S. Policy Counsel at Access Now. “The AWARE Act addresses this by establishing risk assessments for AI-enabled systems, ensuring that factors like bias and the potential for civilian harm are evaluated before and after deployment. Access Now fully supports its passage and commend Senator Welch for prioritizing this issue.” 

“The Department of Defense has committed billions of dollars to military applications of AI that implicate who or what the government targets with lethal force, and Congress and the public have the right to know basic facts about how these technologies work, whether they are effective, and what safeguards are in place,” said Amos Toh, senior counsel of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “The AWARE Act is an important first step towards dismantling excessive secrecy about military grade AI that has grievous consequences for life and liberty.” 

“A reckless rush to develop and deploy autonomous weapons—with the capacity to deliver lethal force without any specific human approval—risks sparking a new global arms race for a dangerous and untested set of technologies that could inflict enormous harm on civilians. Sen. Welch’s legislation is a common sense and much needed measure to ensure the Pentagon gives Congress the basic information it needs to oversee AI weapons policy,” said Rob Weissman, Co-President of Public Citizen. 

Learn more about the AWARE Act. 

Read the full text of the bill. 

###