Pressure on Congress to address artificial intelligence is exposing a weakness in its ability to respond. Many lawmakers lack the technical knowledge and specialized staff needed to evaluate the technology, scrutinize industry claims and translate concerns into workable legislation.
The problem compounds Congress’ slow legislative pace as AI development advances. Access to experts, lawmakers say, is becoming a prerequisite for deciding which risks require intervention and how obligations should be designed.
“We need to dramatically increase the base knowledge of Congress if we’re going to legislate meaningfully,” Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) told Politico.
The expertise gap has renewed interest in restoring the Office of Technology Assessment, an independent congressional advisory agency that helped lawmakers understand emerging technologies and their consequences before losing its funding in 1995.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) plans to introduce bipartisan legislation in the coming weeks to restore such an office, an aide told Politico. The effort builds on legislation Takano and colleagues introduced in 2023 to revive and modernize the agency.
That earlier proposal, the Office of Technology Assessment Improvement and Enhancement Act, sought to strengthen the office’s existing statutory authorization and make its services more accessible to individual lawmakers. Announcing it, Takano cited Congress’ slow response to data privacy and cryptocurrency alongside the emergence of generative AI.
The 2023 bill would have renamed the agency the Congressional Office of Technology and expanded its ability to provide assistance during the legislative process. Its provisions emphasized quick briefings, informal consultations and technical support for legislation without requiring review by the office’s governing board.
The proposal also would have allowed individual members to request assessments, provided lawmakers with preliminary findings before studies were complete and authorized temporary appointments of technical personnel from academic, industrial and research institutions. Those features addressed the challenge of delivering advice quickly enough to influence legislation while preserving rigorous analysis.
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Congress already has technical resources through the Government Accountability Office. Its Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team, established in 2019, conducts technology assessments and provides technical assistance directly to lawmakers, including on AI.
GAO has described that assistance as including reviews of draft legislation, hearing support and briefings for congressional staff. In September 2023, it reported that the team had grown from 49 employees in 2019 to 156, collectively holding more than 100 advanced STEM degrees. Current staffing levels are unclear, however, as control of congressional purse strings has shifted since then.
The existence of GAO’s capabilities makes coordination an important consideration for any restored office. Takano’s 2023 bill explicitly required coordination with GAO and the Congressional Research Service to avoid overlapping research. The forthcoming legislation’s details have not been released.
Another source of expertise is TechCongress, a nonprofit that places technologists in congressional offices and committees. The organization says it has sent 130 fellows to Congress since 2016. Its early-career fellowships last 10 months, while mid-career placements run 12 months, providing embedded assistance but leaving offices with the task of retaining expertise over time.
Recruitment alone, however, cannot ensure that expertise shapes policy. Politico reported that specialized aides are often lured away by lucrative private-sector opportunities, while lawmakers must devote the time to digest technical advice.
Liccardo said he has struggled to attract colleagues to briefings even when speakers included OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.
“We have had challenges in the past trying to get folks’ attention to the issues,” he told Politico.
For businesses seeking clear federal AI rules, the implications extend beyond delayed legislation. Without sustained technical support, Congress may struggle to distinguish measurable risks from speculative claims, assess whether compliance requirements are feasible and oversee implementation. Reviving an advisory office could strengthen that capacity, but its effectiveness would depend on funding, accessibility and lawmakers’ willingness to use it.
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