Mike Rounds Asks Congress Librarian About Challenges Of Incorporating AI Platform Into LoC

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Thank you Senator Heinrich. Senator Rounds, you are recognized.

[00:00:04]>> [clears throat] >> Thank you Madam Chair.

[00:00:07]First of all, I think you're correct in moving forward with regard to advancements using artificial intelligence.

[00:00:14]Uh the ranking member Senator Heinrich and I are co-chairs of the Senate uh AI Caucus and we've been working on a number of different initiatives over the last 3 years regarding the the path forward. I am curious as to the path that you've chosen with regard to a specific AI platform. Can you maybe flesh that out a little bit for us? What I'm curious about is we currently have multiple commercial AI platforms available. Starting out with a well-known chat GPT and moving from there into into others.

[00:00:52]You've heard the Department of Defense and their challenges with Genesis and so forth. And I'm just curious, can you differentiate what you're talking about from perhaps simply applying or what current members of Congress might have access to themselves?

[00:01:08]So Senator, thank you for asking that question. You mentioned chat GPT. Um I just had a conversation with Sam Altman, the CEO of chat GPT about this exact about this exact issue.

[00:01:21]And [clears throat] um for us obviously um we are approaching AI very cautiously because we have to guarantee that everything that we give you is accurate um authoritative, excuse me, and non-partisan.

[00:01:38]So this platform, um one of the most important aspects of it would be the the confidentiality.

[00:01:45]The way that we could design it to ensure that all of the data, all of the legislative data, since we are the biggest repository of legislative data, that this data would be secure and that we would be able to to process it in the way that we need to deliver to Congress.

[00:02:03]So, may I just So, you would be perhaps contracting with one of the hyperscalers to actually develop a product that would be that would be available for our members use?

[00:02:17]It certainly could be. Um if that if that is the wish of Congress, I we would certainly be willing to to take the lead in terms of designing a platform that could serve um that could serve the entire Congress. Do you Do you I mean I and I apologize. I I I am curious though.

[00:02:38]There is a Matter of fact, Senator Hyde-Smith and I have both been working on uh ways in which we can set up literally sandboxes where different uh executive branch agencies could test uh their their versions of an AI product in conjunction with perhaps in some cases regulated industries so that both the industry and the regulator would both have an understanding of how an AI system would work.

[00:03:06]Do you have appropriate authority to be able to establish something along that line or do you need authorities uh created by Congress for you to do that at this time?

[00:03:16]Um my understanding is that we do have the authority. I I would need to um explore that a little further to really give you an authoritative answer. But it's certainly something that we would um be willing to to pursue if that if if that is the desire. I mean, one of the things that I think that makes the library um qualified to do this is is we manage so many shared services for the legislative branch, the financial management uh data system, uh the GIS system. And we'd like to take that knowledge and apply it um to this um, this idea for the platform.

[00:03:55]I I I don't think there is any question but that the use of AI to agentize the the the searching of different databases is very appropriate and Congress should not be left behind in that respect. So, I appreciate what you're trying to do and look forward to working with you on that particular subject.

[00:04:13]Um, Mr. Austin, I'm just curious. Second Street is in an area where there's been construction and some repairs and clearly there's been a disruption in traffic in there. Can you share a little bit about what the what what the purpose on that was? I'm simply not familiar with what the purpose of it was other than perhaps stop some truck traffic in that area, but could you talk about what that is and what your involvement is with regard to that construction project? Sure.

[00:04:37]So, [clears throat] Senator, you're correct is the the the overall rationale that the specific threat cases is not for public consumption, but happy to meet with you offline and share the specific threat, but it is controlled traffic, specifically large vehicle traffic like trucks. And so, we're putting in um, we we put in we call mobile vehicle barriers. So, let's talk about what the AOC is. We put in mobile vehicle barriers to establish uh, the checkpoints along with US Capitol Police immediately. We're putting in more permanent, but still temporary, no digging into the ground uh, vehicle barriers that are going in right now both on Second Constitution as well as second further down Second Street. And in the future we'll be working with Senate Sergeant at Arms, Capitol Police, and of course Senate leadership as far as putting in some more permanent control measures for that stretch of street.

[00:05:20]>> is controlled traffic on that.

[00:05:21]>> Is the intent to basically shut that portion of Second Street down? Is to control it and to shut it down when needed, uh, but it's mostly to control access to it so we don't have unrestricted vehicles or un vetted vehicles going down that street. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.