US House of Representatives leaders on Tuesday announced the creation of a bipartisan task force to explore potential ways to legislate artificial intelligence technologies.

In a joint statement, the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that the task force would be charged with producing a comprehensive report that considers "guardrails that may be appropriate to safeguard the nation against current and emerging threats."

While lawmakers in the EU have proposed its AI Act, similar efforts to create guidelines for the use of AI are yet to manifest in the US and have stalled in Congress despite a number of high-level forums and legislative proposals over the past year.

In addition, the task force report will look to create "guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations and bipartisan policy proposals developed in consultation with committees".

Jeffries added that "the rise of artificial intelligence also presents a unique set of challenges and certain guardrails must be put in place to protect the American people."

The potential danger of AI-generated content in an election year was made apparent last month when a fake robocall imitating President Joe Biden attempted to dissuade voters from backing him in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary election. The Federal Communications Commission subsequently outlawed calls made with AI-generated voices.

Earlier this week, a group of almost two dozen Big Tech firms ranging from Amazon and Google to OpenAI and TikTok signed the “Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections”, a set of commitments to deploy technology countering harmful AI-generated content meant to deceive voters.

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