The House passed two bills Tuesday aimed at strengthening the Small Business Administration’s efforts to use artificial intelligence to assist customers, sending bipartisan legislation to the Senate.
The AI for Main Street Act and the AI Wisdom for Innovative Small Enterprises (AI-WISE) Act easily passed the House after being moved out of committee last November. In the Senate, Sens. Todd Young (R-Indiana) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced a companion bill earlier this month.
Under the AI for Main Street Act, SBA’s Small Business Development Center provides guidance, training, and assistance to small businesses on all issues related to AI. The bill builds on a Google-backed SBDC initiative known as AI U that provides one-on-one coaching and other AI resources to small and medium-sized businesses.
“This is not about replacing people, it’s about empowering people,” said Rep. Hilary Scholten (D-Mich.) and the bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Mark Alford (R-Missouri). “It’s about giving family-owned businesses the same opportunity to compete, grow, and innovate as Fortune 500 companies.”
Rep. Nydia Velasquez (New York), ranking member of the House Small Business Committee, said AI has all the potential to help small businesses in the world, but there needs to be guidance, and that’s what this bill provides.
“It is becoming increasingly common for small and medium-sized businesses to use AI to streamline their operations, but many still do not have access to AI responsibly,” she said. “However, if used incorrectly, AI can have dire consequences. That’s why it’s so important for the SBA and its entrepreneurial ecosystem to help small businesses understand the potential pitfalls and learn how to avoid them.”
Meanwhile, the AI WISE Act directs the SBA to develop guidance for small businesses that demystifies best practices for emerging technologies in the form of educational resources, learning modules, and other guidance. These resources are hosted on your existing SBA platform.
“Artificial intelligence is changing the way businesses operate in real time,” said Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), chairman of the Small Business Committee. “While large companies can afford expensive consultants and trials and experiments, many small businesses can’t afford to do that. For small business owners like me, every penny counts. The Al WISE Act helps fill that gap.”
Rep. Troy Downing (R-Mont.), who co-sponsored the AI Smarter Act with Scholten, said the AI education resources created through the bill would be especially helpful to rural small businesses like his in eastern and central Montana.
“The scope of this educational material includes resources for small and medium-sized businesses on how AI models work and how companies can effectively identify tasks with AI, coordinate with third-party providers, and implement best practices for protecting data privacy,” Downing said. “The AI WISE Act will ensure small businesses have the information they need to most effectively leverage AI to enhance their entrepreneurship.”
