Unleashing Efficiency
Leveraging AI in Legislative Operations
Disclaimer: The House of Representatives’ Chief Administrative Officer announced an official Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy in September of 2024. The policy can be accessed by Congressional staff behind the institution’s firewall on HouseNet. The below resource has not been updated in response to the policy.
Leveraging AI
This guide is a collaboration between the Foundation for American Innovation and POPVOX Foundation. Questions? Contact us at luke@thefai.org or aubrey@popvox.org
Artificial Intelligence is being rapidly adopted throughout the public and private sectors. Between the popularity of Generative AI (ChatGPT has over 180.5 million users) and the ever-expanding market of AI-enabled tools, a paradigm shift is underway and Congress is not exempt.
From summarizing and drafting documents to building novel automations, AI has the potential to transform congressional workflows, increasing the capacity of members’ offices to do their work and represent their constituents. With the average age of congressional staff hovering around 31 years old, the House and Senate are host to many early adopters of this new technology. Internal scans of House network traffic suggest that up to a quarter of the chamber’s staff are already using some form of GenAI regularly. CHA, GAO, CAO, GPO, and numerous personal offices are thus implementing AI into their modernization initiatives.
Yet adoption is being held back by a lack of familiarity with the available tools and uncertainty about what rules or guidelines are in place around their use. As chiefs of staff, staff directors, and office managers begin the necessary task of helping their staff navigate smart, safe adoption of these new tools, the following document provides a starting point to get up to speed on AI as it applies to congressional workflows.
What is AI?
If you are not familiar with Generative AI, here are some resources to get you started:
Benefits of AI for Congressional Offices
Capacity Builder
AI tools can save staff time on common tasks.
Ex: Generating first drafts of constituent response and press documents
Creativity Booster
AI tools can aid staff in developing new ways to communicate complex policy ideas.
Ex: Creating new logos or graphical elements for branded office resources
Research Assistant
AI tools can do some of the heavy lifting to help staff get up to speed on issues or provide background on a topic quickly.
Ex: Summarizing large amounts of text like legislation or speeches and drafting policy papers
Risks of AI for Congressional Offices*
Accuracy
Even though AI language tools are often factually correct and usually sound convincing, they regularly produce factually false statements, often called “hallucinations.”
Offices must thoroughly check any factual claims.
Bias
One particularly difficult challenge of these tools is preventing them from inheriting the biases of their source material, which is often the internet at large. The internet is filled with biases.
Offices should carefully watch for any implied biases, in addition to factual claims.
Cybersecurity
Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the popularity of these new tools to infect users with malware, collect sensitive data, and commit financial fraud.
Offices should only use established tools and be wary of third-party repackaged apps. Offices should check with House Information Resources or the Senate Sergeant at Arms Cybersecurity Department about risks associated with any particular tool prior to use.
Ethics
Plagiarism is unacceptable, but is text generated by a large language processor allowable? There are significant copyright and ethical concerns with the use of AI-generated text and images. Courts are only beginning to examine the legal ramifications.
Offices should heavily edit any generated drafts to ensure the Member’s unique voice.
Limitations
Many of these tools have large gaps in their knowledge base. For example, ChatGPT excludes information from the past two years.
Offices should know the limitations of AI tools and clearly communicate these limitations to staff and interns authorized to use the tools.
Data Protection
The privacy policies of these tools are broad and permissive, so sharing text or documents with them should be considered as a public release. For example, pasting text from a draft bill could result in the tool later giving parts of that bill in its generated responses to the public.
Offices must not share access to internal or sensitive documents (e.g., drafts of legislation, speeches, or releases) with AI tools.
*All risk guidance is taken verbatim from internal guidance issued by the House Digital Service.
The Right Approach
Know What is Allowed
When in doubt, consult the House policy issued by the House Digital Service and the Senate policy issued by the Senate Sergeant at Arms.
Make a Policy for Your Office
If you want a starting place, check out A Congressional Office’s Guide to Establishing a Generative AI Internal Use Policy.
Be Willing to Innovate
Members and offices should be willing to experiment through trial and error so long as they are transparent about AI’s use and office leadership is able to monitor and adjust internal policy to ensure AI use aligns with the Member’s intent.
Tools & Their Uses*
ChatGPT
OpenAI’s chatbot; ask it questions and you’ll get answers. Upgrade to pro to unlock GPT-4, their most powerful model.
Claude
Anthropic’s chatbot is completely free and able to intake over 100 pages of text.
Midjourney
An image generator capable of making whatever your heart desires.
Whisper V3
Open source audio and video text transcription.
Policy Engine
Design a tax or spending proposal and rapidly estimate the fiscal impact.
And much much more!
*As a reminder, only some of the above tools have been approved for official use on the Hill.
About
POPVOX Foundation
POPVOX Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission “to inform and empower people and make government work better for everyone.” POPVOX Foundation works with governments to address the challenges presented by the constantly evolving landscape of technology and society, known as “pacing problems.” Learn more at popvox.org.
Foundation for American Innovation
The Foundation for American Innovation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, established in Silicon Valley in 2014 as Lincoln Labs. FAI’S mission is to develop technology, talent, and ideas that support a better, freer, and more abundant future. Learn more at thefai.org.