Opening Statements

Today, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, before the Subcommittee's hearing on the National Security AI Commission:

"Thank you, Chairman Langevin.

"Welcome to our witnesses. Chairman Schmidt, Vice Chairman Work, and Commissioners Clyburn and Griffiths – it is great to have you before the subcommittee today. Thank you all for your continued service on the Commission.

"On March 20th of 2018, I introduced legislation in the House of Representatives to establish a national commission to review the advances in artificial intelligence, the competitiveness of our efforts, and the implications to our national security. A year later, I had the honor of speaking at the AI commission's first plenary session, meeting many of you, and providing my thoughts on the importance and direction of the commission's work. And just a few short months ago, I had the privilege of sponsoring, alongside Chairman Langevin, eleven amendments to the NDAA that originated from the commission's first quarter recommendations. This is a remarkable achievement and demonstrates the value of your findings and recommendations to policy makers, and in particular, this committee. This impressive commitment reflects upon your hard work, the dedication of your staff, and also a recognition of how important and timely this conversation on artificial intelligence is to our national discourse.

"In my comments at the commission's first session, I spoke about the need for artificial intelligence to be transformative. I stressed that if artificial intelligence doesn't fundamentally change the way we operate; how we view our collective defense, adapt our workforce composition, shift our priorities, and invest our resources, than we are failing to embrace this new technology to its fullest. I am pleased that many of your initial recommendations addressed these issues, and I look forward to hearing your comments on how we are doing in these regards.

"Over the last several weeks we've seen glimpses into the power of artificial intelligence. DARPA's alpha dog fight demonstration, which pitted an experienced air force pilot in a virtual dog fight against an algorithm developed by a small, woman and minority-owned business in Maryland. It was a decisive victory for artificial intelligence, and one that Secretary Esper accurately observed as a 'tetonic impact of machine learning on the future of warfighting.' In another noteworthy demonstration, we observed a hypervelocity weapon shoot down a cruise missile with the help of an advanced battle management system powered by powerful data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities. The head of Northern Command noted afterwards, 'I am not a skeptic after watching today'.

"Equally important as these AI technical demonstrations is the formulation of policy governing how we use these capabilities. The development of standards, ethical principles, accountability, and appropriate level of human oversight will be critical to ensuring the American people trust its use. Your work, both on the commission and in your personal and professional endeavors, is key to ensuring a strong and enduring partnership between the military, academia, and private sector; a partnership built on trust, democratic ideals, and mutual value.

"Again, I look forward to discussing the commission's recommendations and your priorities for the remainder of the commission's work. We have a lot to talk about, so thank you again to each of our witnesses. I yield back."

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