Sba Artificial Intelligence Utilization Act of 2026

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, the prospect of AI in government brings forth a deluge of feelings for many policymakers, myself being no exception. On the one hand, AI can be exciting because it can revolutionize the way we do business. On the other hand, AI can be frightening because of the ways in which it can harm everyday Americans.

In 2023, the city of New York launched a first-of-its-kind AI chatbot for small businesses, meant to answer questions about running small firms, city small business services, and regulatory compliance.

In response, the committee sent a letter to the White House Office of Budget and Management urging them to incorporate various commonsense guardrails if and when AI for small business services came into use at the Federal level.

As it turns out, our concerns about the city's chatbot were well founded. A news expose found that the chatbot was consistently urging users to break the law. The mayor later closed it as part of a broader cost-cutting effort, calling it ``unusable.''

That is why our committee is hard at work holding the SBA to account for the ways in which it is and isn't using AI, no matter who is in the White House.

H.R. 8881 will direct the SBA to report annually on its AI use, the benefits and risks of AI to its work, and effective AI risk management measures.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Finstad and Mr. Latimer for their leadership in this area, and I urge all Members to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 8881 is a commonsense measure promoting transparency in the SBA's use of AI, an emerging tech with far-reaching ramifications. I commend Mr. Finstad and Mr. Latimer for working together to move this bill forward, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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