As the race with China over artificial intelligence intensifies, US lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a draft bill that would, for the first time, require the State Department to deliver a detailed assessment of Beijing’s artificial intelligence ambitions, including identifying “specific AI leaders”.
The State Department should provide Congress with a comprehensive report on China’s AI development, including its “progress using independent, publicly available benchmarks to achieve autonomous research capability and to self-improve performance without human intervention”, along with a comparison to US AI systems during the same period, the House Committee on Appropriations said.
The report would be due within 180 days after enactment of the financial year 2027 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill, according to the draft released on Tuesday.
It marks the first time the committee has included China-related AI provisions in its foreign affairs appropriations track.
The State Department’s report should also identify Chinese companies that are “specific AI leaders” and compare US and Chinese approaches to “AI safety, ethical considerations, and security risks,” the bill under consideration says.
The House Committee on Appropriations drafts and reviews the US government’s annual spending bills, setting specific funding levels and conditions for agencies ranging from the State Department to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
In the draft bill, which covers diplomatic, foreign aid and international security spending, the committee stated that US leadership in AI is “a critical pillar of national security and economic prosperity”.
In a separate initiative it plans to fund, the committee said it would “support an initiative to develop geopolitical strategies and verification frameworks related to advanced AI development by foreign adversaries”, without naming specific countries.
That initiative would lead to “verification approaches for potential international agreements”, according to the draft.
Once approved by the House Appropriations Committee, the draft bill will be sent to the full House of Representatives and Senate, before being reconciled into a single piece of legislation and sent to the president to be signed into law.
In financial year 2026, the same committee’s Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act allocated US$10 million to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), directing the agency to evaluate the capabilities and vulnerabilities of China’s frontier AI models and to estimate the gap between US and Chinese AI progress.
The draft comes as US-China competition over AI intensifies, particularly between leading frontier models and over US accusations that Chinese companies have been “distilling” American technology.
Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent 20 new export-control measures for consideration, in legislation that would further restrict China’s access to American technology and block Chinese chipmakers from obtaining advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
