WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement on Open AI’s new safeguards against malicious misuse of their artificial intelligence products: 

“I’m pleased to see OpenAI heed my call for additional safeguards as it releases powerful new features like video generation – including specific measures I have advocated for, including adding new detection mechanisms for violative outputs, clear mechanisms to identify and catalogue synthetic content, and public-facing reporting mechanisms for victims of impersonation campaigns and other Terms of Service violations to seek redress. Ultimately the efficacy of these new policies will be measured in the kinds of resources OpenAI invests in enforcing them, but I appreciate these new steps.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today urged leadership at Valve, a prominent video game company, to respond to reports that their gaming distribution and social networking platform, Steam, is hosting extremist and hateful content – including over 1.5 million users and tens of thousands of groups that share and amplify antisemitic, Nazi, sexuality- or gender-based hate, and white supremacist content. Sen. Warner called for broad action from Valve to bring its content moderation standards in line with industry standards and crack down on the rampant proliferation of hate-based content. 

“I write to you today regarding the hate and extremism that has recently been identified on your gaming digital distribution and social networking platform Steam,” Warner wrote. “Recently, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report where ADL identified over 1 million unique user accounts and nearly 100,000 user-created groups that glorified antisemitic, Nazi, white supremacist, gender- and sexuality-based hatred, and other extremist ideologies on Valve’s Steam platform.” 

The letter notes that Steam has millions of active users that are now exposed to extremist ideologies. According to the ADL report, Steam hosts almost 900,000 users with extremist or antisemitic profile pictures, 40,000 groups with names that included hateful words, and rampant use of text-based images, particularly of swastikas, resulting in over 1 million unique hate-images.

“My concern is elevated by the fact that Steam is the largest single online gaming digital distribution and social networking platform in the world with over 100 million unique user accounts and a userbase similar in scale to that of the ‘traditional’ social media and social network platforms. Steam is financially successful, with a dominant position in its sector, and makes Valve billions of dollars in annual revenue. Until now, Steam has largely not received its due attention as a de facto major social network where its users engage in many of the same activities expected of a social media platform,” Warner continued.

“We have seen on other social networking platforms that lax enforcement of the letter of user conduct agreements, when coupled with a seeming reluctance by those companies to embrace the spirit (namely providing users with a safe, welcoming place to socialize) of those same agreements, leads to toxic social environments that elevate harassment and abuse. You should want your users (and prospective users) to not have to wonder if they or their children will be harassed, intimidated, ridiculed or otherwise face abuse,” Warner concluded.

The letter ends with a series of questions for Valve regarding their enforcement of their own terms of service and their commitment to reining in toxic content.

For years, Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, has been raising the alarm about rise of hate-fueled content proliferating online, as well as the threat posed by domestic and foreign bad actors circulating disinformation. Recently, he pressed directly for action from Discord, another video game-based social networking site that is hosting violent predatory groups that coerce minors into self-harm and suicide. He has also called attention to the rise of pro-eating disorder content on AI platforms. A leader in the tech space, Sen. Warner has also lead the charge for broad Section 230 reform to allow social media companies to be held accountable for enabling cyber-stalking, harassment, and discrimination on their platforms.

A copy of the letter is available here and below.

Dear Mr. Newell:

I write to you today regarding the hate and extremism that has recently been identified on your gaming digital distribution and social networking platform Steam. Recently, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report where ADL identified over 1 million unique user accounts and nearly 100,000 user-created groups that glorified antisemitic, Nazi, white supremacist, gender- and sexuality-based hate, and other extremist ideologies on Valve’s Steam platform. 

It has been brought to your attention before that extremist ideologies seem to find a home on Steam. In 2022, Valve received a Senate letter identifying nearly identical activity on your platform, and yet two years later it appears that Valve has chosen to continue a ‘hands off’-type approach to content moderation that favors allowing some users to engage in sustained bouts of disturbing and violent rhetoric rather than ensure that all of its users can find a welcoming and safe environment across your platform.

My concern is elevated by the fact that Steam is the largest single online gaming digital distribution and social networking platform in the world with over 100 million unique user accounts and a userbase similar in scale to that of the ‘traditional’ social media and social network platforms. Steam is financially successful, with a dominant position in its sector, and makes Valve billions of dollars in annual revenue. Until now, Steam has largely not received its due attention as a de facto major social network where its users engage in many of the same activities expected of a social media platform. 

ADL also found that, in addition to the extremely concerning number of hateful account and user groups:

• Almost 900,000 users with extremist or antisemitic profile pictures
• 40,000 groups with names that included hateful words, with the most prominent being “1488”, “shekel” and “white power”
• Rampant use of text-based images (so-called “copypasta” or “ASCII art”), particularly of swastikas, resulting in over 1 million unique hate-images. 

Valve has a Steam Online Conduct policy (“Conduct Policy”) and a Steam Subscriber Agreement (“Agreement”) that Steam subscribers agree to abide by as a condition of using the service. The Conduct Policy requires that “[in] general, as a Steam user you should be a good online citizen and not do anything that prevents any other Steam user from using and enjoying Steam”. The Conduct Policy explicitly directs subscribers to not:  

• “Engage in unlawful activity [including] encouraging real-world violence…”
• “Upload or post illegal or inappropriate content [including] [real] or disturbing depictions of violence…”
• “Violate others’ personal rights”
• “Harass other users or Steam personnel [which includes not engaging in] trolling; baiting; threatening; spamming; intimidating; and using abusive language or insults.” 

It is reasonable to question how committed Valve is to effectively implement and enforce Valve’s own, self-created Conduct Policy for its users, in light of the 1 million Steam user accounts and 100,000 user-created groups glorifying hateful ideologies that ADL found. We have seen on other social networking platforms that lax enforcement of the letter of user conduct agreements, when coupled with a seeming reluctance by those companies to embrace the spirit (namely providing users with a safe, welcoming place to socialize) of those same agreements, leads to toxic social environments that elevate harassment and abuse. You should want your users (and prospective users) to not have to wonder if they or their children will be harassed, intimidated, ridiculed or otherwise face abuse.

As Black Friday and the holiday buying season approaches, the American public should know that not only is Steam an unsafe place for teens and young adults to purchase and play online games, but also that, absent a change in Valve’s approach to user moderation and the type of behavior that it welcomes on its platform, Steam is playing a clear role in allowing harmful ideologies to spread and take root among the next generation.

Valve must bring its content moderation practices in line with industry standards or face more intense scrutiny from the federal government for its complicity in allowing hate groups to congregate and engage in activities that undoubtedly puts Americans at risk. 

Please provide answers to the following questions no later than December 13, 2024. Please provide answers in-line with the questions, and not a narrative that attempts to answer multiple questions. 

1. Please describe Valve’s current practices used to enforce its terms of service.

2. Please provide the definition that Valve uses internally to define each of the following terms and/or behaviors from the Conduct Policy in order to evaluate potential violations of said policy:
   1. “Encouraging real-world violence”;
   2. “Inappropriate content”;
   3. “Real or disturbing depictions of violence”;
   4. “Violate others’ personal rights”; and
   5. “Harass other users or Steam personnel”, including:

                                                              i.      trolling;

                                                             ii.      baiting;

                                                           iii.      threatening;

                                                           iv.      intimidating; and

                                                             v.      abusive language or insults.

3. How many allegations did Valve receive from users about potential violations of the Conduct Policy? Include in your response each date when the Conduct Policy was changed, updated, or otherwise modified. Please provide data sufficient to answer this question for each of the following:
   1. Each month of each of the years of 2014 to 2024;
   2. Each category of violation (however Valve tracks types or categories of violations of the policy;
   3. Each category of violation for each month of each of the years of 2014 to 2024;
   4. The disposition and/or any findings of each complaint received (this may be presented in aggregate) by Valve, whether through Steam’s internal reporting mechanisms or any other means, and subsequent action taken by Valve in response to each complaint (this may be presented in aggregate).
   5. The number of unique user accounts that were subject to adverse, punitive, or corrective actions by Valve:

                                                              i.      In response to a user-generated complaint; and

                                                             ii.      In response to violations identified by Valve moderators of their own accord.

6. For item e, above, please provide data on unique payment methods (e.g. credit card accounts, PayPal or similar payment method accounts, JCB, Klarna, Paysafecard, and any other payment methods accepted on Steam that are uniquely identifiable) associated with each account subject to adverse, punitive, or corrective actions by Valve that was subsequently used for any other account (this may be presented on aggregate).

4. Approximately how many human content moderators work for Steam?
   1. How many of those moderators are in-house Valve employees?
   2. How many of those moderators are contracted by Valve?
   3. Does Steam supplement this work with AI-content moderation systems? If so, describe the ways in which any AI system is deployed for that purpose, including any evaluation process that Valve carried out to test any such system and the results that demonstrate the efficacy of any such system in identifying and/or removing content that violates the Conduct Policy and Subscriber Agreement.

5. What steps does Valve take to prevent, monitor, and mitigate extremist, white supremacist, and terrorism-related content?

6. What commitments will Steam make to ensure that it has meaningfully curbed white supremacist, antisemitic, terroristic, Nazi, homophonic, transphobic, misogynist, and hateful content by November 15, 2025?

7. What transparency measures does Valve plan to implement to inform users and the public about content moderation actions related to extremists and behavior that could be reasonably interpreted as endorsing extremist thoughts, beliefs, and/or actions on the platform? 

8. The research shows a period from late 2019 to mid-2020 where it appears Valve may have stepped up its moderation of certain types of hateful content on Steam. Can you provide more detail on your content moderation practices during this time? 

9. How frequently does Valve evaluate its content moderation practices related to extremism?
   1. How frequently do those evaluations result in changes, updates, or other modifications to Valve’s content moderation practices related to extremism?

10. Has Steam, or Valve, made policy, enforcement, or practical decisions that have had the effect of limiting or its content moderation? If so, provide the date(s) of each decision and enough information to understand the context and analysis that led to each decision.

I greatly appreciate your swift attention to this matter and look forward to reviewing your response. 

Sincerely, 

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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) applauded committee passage of their Promoting United States Leadership in Standards Act of 2024, legislation aimed at restoring the U.S.’s position as the leader in international standards-setting for Artificial Intelligence and other critical emerging technologies (CETs). This legislation passed through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation by a unanimous voice vote.

The legislation, first introduced in February, comes in response to the rising influence of Chinese-government affiliated companies and organizations on international technology standards and practices. For decades, the United States led the world in developing new technologies, which allowed our country to set the standards that guided the use and development of those technologies around the globe. However, in recent years, companies and organizations backed by the Chinese Communist Party have overtaken the U.S. in some key areas, which has allowed the Chinese government to influence standards in ways that further its own interests.

“I am thrilled to see this important legislation pass through the Commerce Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Sen. Warner. “This legislation clearly outlines steps we must take to reestablish our leadership and ensure that we are doing all we can to set the global standards for critical and emerging technologies. I look forward to a full Senate vote.”

“The Communist Chinese Party has made it their mission to undermine the U.S. and our interests around the globe by exploiting our deficiencies,” said Sen. Blackburn. “As they ramp up their efforts to dominate global standards for emerging technologies, the U.S. must be a global leader in innovation, and that includes setting standards that reflect our interests and values.”

Specifically, the Promoting United States Leadership in Standards Act would:

• Require the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to submit a report to Congress that identifies current U.S. participation in standards development activities for AI and other CETs;
• Create an easy-to-access web portal to help stakeholders navigate and actively engage in international standardization efforts. The portal would include a list of relevant standards and information about how to participate in standardization activities related to AI and other CETs;
• Establish a pilot program to award $5 million in grants over 5 years to support the hosting of standards meetings for AI and other CETs in the U.S.;
• Create a report to Congress, during the third year of the program, that identifies grant recipients, provides a summary of expenses, assesses the effectiveness of the program to grow the number of standards meetings in the U.S, and shows the geographic distribution of event attendees.

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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) joined Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and a bipartisan group of colleagues in introducing the Kids Off Social Media Act, legislation that would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media platforms and prevent social media companies from feeding algorithmically-targeted content to users under the age of 17. Joining Sens. Warner, Schatz and Cruz in introduction are U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Katie Britt (R-AL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ted Budd (R-NC), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Angus King (I-ME).

The Kids Off Social Media Act aims to address concerns regarding the mental health crisis of children and teens in relation to their use of social media. No age demographic is more affected by the ongoing mental health crisis in the United States than kids, especially young girls. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 57 percent of high school girls and 29 percent of high school boys felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, with 22 percent of all high school students—and nearly a third of high school girls—reporting they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the preceding year.

Studies have shown a strong relationship between social media use and poor mental health, especially among children. From 2019 to 2021, overall screen use among teens and tweens (ages 8 to 12) increased by 17 percent, with tweens using screens for five hours and 33 minutes per day and teens using screens for eight hours and 39 minutes. Based on the clear and growing evidence, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory last year, calling for new policies to set and enforce age minimums and highlighting the importance of limiting the use of features, like algorithms, that attempt to maximize time, attention, and engagement.

“Parents across the country are struggling to protect their kids from the harmful effects of too much social media, and studies show that today’s unregulated social media landscape has fostered a toxic environment for young people, promoting bullying, eating disorders, and mental health struggles unchecked,” said Sen. Warner. “I’m proud to join this bipartisan effort to enact some common sense guardrails for kids and teens using social media platforms.”

Specifically, the Kids Off Social Media Act would:

• Prohibit children under the age of 13 from creating or maintaining social media accounts, consistent with the current practices of major social media companies;
• Prohibit social media companies from pushing targeted content using algorithms to users under the age of 17;
• Provide the FTC and state attorneys general authority to enforce the provisions of the bill; and
• Follow existing CIPA framework to require schools to block and filter social media on their federally funded networks, which many schools already do.

Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, has been a vocal advocate building a safer online environment, specifically for young people. Last year, he introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, legislation that provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms. He has also introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at holding Big Tech accountable, including the SAFE TECH Act, which would reform Section 230 and allow social media companies to be held accountable for enabling cyber-stalking, online harassment, and discrimination on social media platforms; the Honest Ads Act, which would require online political advertisements to adhere to the same disclaimer requirements as TV, radio, and print ads; and most recently, seeing through the passage of the national security supplemental aid package, which included a requirement that the prominent social media platform TikTok divest from China-owned parent company ByteDance within one year.

“Public Citizen stands in strong support of this legislation intended to protect the nation’s children from the pernicious impacts of social media. Frequent use of social media can harm vulnerable children and teens as their identities and feelings of self-worth are forming. A straightforward ban for younger children and stopping abusive algorithmic engagement with teens just makes sense. We applaud Senator Schatz for his commonsense bill,” said Lisa Gilbert, Executive Vice President of Public Citizen.

“We survey mothers on pressing issues they face and on the federal bills that seek to address them. We do this because mothers’ first-hand experiences and knowledge are critical sources of information in the policy-making process. This bill, newly renamed the ‘Kids Off Social Media Act,’ had more support by mothers -- across the political spectrum -- than any bill we've studied. Mothers are on the frontlines of this issue, and according to our quantitative and qualitative study, they overwhelmingly believe that social media companies' products and practices should be regulated using age limits and guardrails, similar to other harmful substances,” said Jennifer Bransford, Founder of Count on Mothers.

“Our nation is facing a severe crisis in children’s mental health,” said Dr. Regena Spratling, President of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. “Every day pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) and other advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) focused on children’s health see the serious impact that social media can have on our young people’s well-being. The ‘Kids Off Social Media Act’ will help to provide parents the tools they need to safeguard their children from threats in the digital world.”

“Preparing nurses to help address our country’s growing mental health problems is one of nursing education’s highest priorities,” said Dr. Beverly Malone, President and CEO of the National League for Nursing. “The National League for Nursing is pleased to support the ‘Kids Off Social Media Act’ as an important step to help parents and health care professionals shield our young people from harmful online content that can lead to behavioral health problems.”

“KIDS TOO strongly supports comprehensive legislation that protects kids on social media. Senator Schatz's Kids Off Social Media Act solidifies prohibiting youth under 13 from maintaining or creating social media accounts. This bill gets to the root of the issue by eliminating the chance of young kids being vulnerable to harmful tactics by predators, bullies and drug dealers,” said Tania Haigh, Executive Director of KIDS TOO.

“We’re still learning about the long-term implications that unfettered access to social media has on children and adolescents. Until then, especially considering evidence showing that the way people use social media can impact mental health outcomes, it makes sense to put safeguards in place. As we learn more, we can modify these safeguards as needed. But we need to begin somewhere, and this legislation would provide an opportunity to more clearly understand whether modest safeguards can protect children and adolescents and what responsible measures look like,” said Chuck Ingoglia, President and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

The Kids Off Social Media Act is supported by the American Counseling Association, KidsToo, National Association of Social Workers, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Tyler Clementi Foundation, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Count on Mothers, Parents Television and Media Council, Parents Who Fight, Public Citizen, National Federation of Families, National Organization for Women, National Association of School Nurses, National League for Nursing, and American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Full text of the legislation is available here.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and John Kennedy (R-LA), both members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, introduced the Financial Artificial Intelligence Risk Reduction Act, bipartisan legislation to require financial regulators to address uses of AI-generated content that could disrupt financial markets.

“AI has tremendous potential but also enormous disruptive power across a variety of fields and industries – perhaps none more so than our financial markets,” said Sen. Warner, a former business executive and venture capitalist. “The time to address those vulnerabilities is now.”

“AI is moving quickly, and our laws should do the same to prevent AI manipulation from rattling our financial markets. Our bill would help ensure that AI threats do not put Americans’ investments and retirement dreams at risk,” Sen. Kennedy said.

The legislation requires the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to coordinate financial regulators’ response to threats to the stability of the markets posed by AI, including the use of “deepfakes” by malign actors and other practices associated with the use of AI tools that could undermine the financial system, such as trading algorithms. The legislation also requires FSOC to identify gaps in existing regulations, guidance, and exam standards that could hinder effective responses to AI threats, and implement specific recommendations to address those gaps.

In response to the potential magnitude of the threat, the Financial Artificial Intelligence Risk Reduction Act would also provide for treble penalties when AI is used in violations of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules, including acts of market manipulation and fraud. The legislation also makes clear that anyone who uses an AI model is responsible for making sure that everything that model does complies with all securities laws.

The legislation also provides the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) with the authority necessary to oversee AI service providers, similar to the authority the other financial regulators have had for decades.

A copy of the legislation is available here.

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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $2,483,817 in federal funding for the Commonwealth to provide distance learning services for rural areas. The funding was awarded through U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants, which provide rural communities with advanced telecommunications technology. In all, these grants will provide 197,010 Virginia students with the technology they need to take advantage of education opportunities through local colleges and universities.

“Over the past several years, we have seen the tremendous capabilities of distance learning to extend opportunities to students that have previously been limited by their geography,” said the senators. “This funding will provide 197,010 Virginia students with the technology and infrastructure they need to continue taking advantage of distance learning.”

The funding is broken down as follows:

1. $952,388 for Germanna Community College in order to equip 10 locations throughout Spotsylvania, Stafford, Orange, Culpeper, Wise, Page, and Madison counties with video conferencing equipment. Instructors at Germanna Community College will use that technology to deliver mental health and healthcare educational courses to benefit 5,372 students;
2. $740,793 for Lee County School District in order to equip 12 locations throughout Lee County with interactive teleconferencing equipment. Instructors at Lee County Public Schools will use that technology to deliver instructional resources, professional development courses, and mental health services to benefit 5,545 students;
3. $475,122 for Southside Virginia Community College in order to equip six locations throughout Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Charlotte, Nottoway and Greensville counties with a synchronous interactive video conferencing system. Instructors at Southside Virginia Community College will use that technology to deliver nursing and emergency management services simulation labs, and shared college courses to benefit 2,805 students; and
4. $315,5134 for Virginia State University in order to equip 15 locations throughout Petersburg, Roanoke, Prince George, Sussex, Dinwiddie, Henry, Southampton, Franklin, Halifax, Louisa, Brunswick, Greensville and Mecklenburg counties with integrated interactive teaching rooms at the college sites and interactive digital white boards at the high school sites. Instructors at Virginia State University will use that technology to deliver dual credit college courses to benefit 183,288 students.

Sens. Warner and Kaine have long supported efforts to better connect rural Virginia, including through significant funding to extend broadband capabilities to every corner of the Commonwealth.

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WASHINGTON – Today, Virginia lawmakers gathered at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) to celebrate the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s meritorious selection of Jefferson Lab as the Hub Director for the new High Performance Data Facility (HPDF) – a scientific user facility that will specialize in advanced infrastructure for data-intensive science. The project to build the HPDF Hub will be a partnership between Jefferson Lab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), with the two labs forming a joint project team led by Jefferson Lab and charged to create an integrated HPDF Hub design.

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine and their colleagues have worked tirelessly to engage the DOE, stress the extent of Jefferson Lab’s capabilities and potential for growth, and best position Virginia to be selected to host the HPDF. As part of this effort, the lawmakers worked with the General Assembly and Governor Youngkin to secure over $40 million in Commonwealth funds for the planning and construction of a shell building to house the HPDF – a bipartisan feat that demonstrated Virginia’s extraordinary support of Jefferson Lab’s mission and commitment to this project.

The High Performance Data Facility is envisioned as a national resource that will serve as the foundation for advancing DOE’s ambitious Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) program, which aims to provide researchers the ability to seamlessly meld DOE’s unique data resources, experimental user facilities, and advanced computing resources to accelerate the pace of discovery. The mission of the HPDF will be to enable and accelerate scientific discovery by delivering state-of-the-art data management infrastructure, capabilities, and tools. The HPDF will provide a crucial national resource for artificial intelligence (AI) research, opening new approaches for the nation’s researchers to attack fundamental problems in science and engineering that require nimble, shared access to large data sets, and real-time analysis of streamed data from experiments. DOE is the leading producer of scientific data in the world, and the HPDF will deliver a platform for a broad spectrum of data-intensive research as we enter the era of exascale supercomputing and exascale data.

Today’s news follows an announcement last year by Sens. Warner and Kaine that over $76 million in federal funding was headed to Jefferson Lab for project support and infrastructure upgrades. Those investments were made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed by one vote and was supported by both senators.

“The selection of Jefferson Lab as the location and lead of the High Performance Data Facility is a monumental win for the Lab, Hampton Roads, and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA). “Since my days as Governor, I have pushed to broaden the mission and responsibilities of Jefferson Lab to reflect the current needs of our nation. Today’s announcement is a massive step towards realizing the goal of diversifying the mission of Jefferson Lab by providing the Lab with a critical national resource that will be used to tackle fundamental problems in science and engineering, including artificial intelligence research. I’m thankful for Secretary Granholm and the Department of Energy’s commitment to ensuring the U.S. can pave the way for the next generation of advanced data management and for providing Jefferson Lab the opportunity to lead this world-class project. I look forward to working with Jefferson Lab, the Department of Energy, and my colleagues in advancing this project as quickly as possible and look forward to seeing the innumerable scientific advancements that are sure to follow.”

“Jefferson Lab’s designation as the leader of the High Performance Data Facility is a powerful recognition of the contributions Virginians make to the research we need to remain at the cutting-edge of technological innovation,” said U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA). “I’m proud to have helped advocate for this designation, and for years have gone to bat through the annual government funding process to support Jefferson Lab’s work. I will continue to do all that I can to secure the resources Virginia scientists need to advance America’s competitiveness and supercomputing capabilities.”

“From Day One of my Administration, we’ve been working with leaders in our delegation, in our General Assembly, and at Jefferson Lab to secure the High Performance Data Facility, an asset that will accelerate research driven economic development in the Commonwealth. I was proud to work with General Assembly leaders to make a $40 million investment to help land this prize that will catalyze our economy for decades to come. Our Administration will continue to support the cutting-edge technological research that has established the Commonwealth as a nationwide leader in innovation,” said Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.

“We are honored to be selected by the DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program to lead this project,” said Jefferson Lab Director Stuart Henderson. “Building on our extensive experience with large data sets and high performance computing, and our new and ongoing partnerships exploring state-of-the-art approaches to data and data science, we will build a new facility that will revolutionize the way we make scientific discoveries.”

“Today’s announcement is great news for all those committed to innovation and scientific discovery. Since its founding, Jefferson Lab (JLab) has established itself as a world-leader in nuclear physics research while building acumen in the computing realm to manage, store, and interpret data. These two areas of expertise have proven synergistic and advanced the lab’s mission. The location of the High Performance Data Facility will create new opportunities at Jefferson Lab and in Hampton Roads while bringing JLab’s expertise to bear for the entire network of National Labs,” said Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03).

“I am thrilled to see Jefferson Lab selected as the Hub Director for the Department of Energy’s High Performance Data Facility,” Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01) said. “Jefferson Lab is a leader in nuclear research, and these investments will unlock vital data science advancements for the Hampton Roads region, the Commonwealth, and our nation. I am proud to have advocated for this important investment alongside my colleagues at the local, state, and federal levels over the years, and I look forward to the future developments that will follow the completion of this critical project.”

“Jefferson Lab’s High Performance Data Facility is a once-in-a-generation initiative that will catapult Newport News and the Commonwealth to the international frontlines of data analytics and advanced computing,” said Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones. “This revolutionary facility will transform scientific research and discovery. In addition to workforce and economic development impacts, there are innumerable opportunities for higher education, research, STEM learning, and commercial investments. This exciting new project, coupled with Jefferson Lab’s already robust scientific and educational offerings, will make Newport News an even greater hub of innovation and research.”

“This project will be one of the greatest economic development projects to come to Newport News in recent memory,” said State Senator Monty Mason, who represents Jefferson Lab as Senator of the 1st District. “As a steadfast advocate on the state level, I am proud to have secured critical state funding for the planning and preparation of this project. The city and the entire peninsula will be strengthened by this facility, bringing 100s of new jobs with salaries well over the region's median income, boosting our local economy, and further solidifying the Virginia peninsula as a leader in science innovation.”

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of collaboration between members of the Virginia General Assembly and our federal delegation to bring a High Performance Data Facility to Jefferson Lab. As Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, I am excited that the Commonwealth’s investment will leverage between $300 million to $500 million in federal funds for this transformative opportunity,” said State Delegate and Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Barry Knight.

“The investments made today by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Commonwealth of Virginia into the High-Performance Data Facility mark the beginning of an unparalleled chapter for the laboratory and the wider educational community,” emphasized Dr. Sean J. Hearne, President and CEO of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA). “This cutting-edge research facility serves as a gateway to explore the rapidly expanding realm of data science, offering extensive research and educational opportunities that are poised to redefine our world.”

“The Friends of Jefferson Lab, a coalition of business leaders spanning from Richmond to the oceanfront, are delighted Jefferson Lab has been chosen as the site for the high performance data facility,” said Alan Witt, Chair of Friends of JLab. “Jefferson Lab is a vital asset to Hampton Roads and the addition of this facility will add greatly to the economic, scientific, and educational fabric of the Virginia Peninsula, Hampton Roads, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Specifically, the HPDF will have a “hub-and-spoke” model in which Jefferson Lab and LBNL will host mirrored centralized resources. It will enable high priority DOE mission applications at “spoke” sites by deploying and orchestrating distributed infrastructure at the spokes or other locations. Under Jefferson Lab’s leadership, the Jefferson Lab/LBNL partnership will assemble a world class HPDF Hub project team to deliver a geographically resilient and innovative HPDF core infrastructure capable of meeting the needs of a wide diversity of users, institutions, and use cases. This Jefferson Lab-led partnership will itself provide the template for the first spokes partnerships and blaze new paths in institutional engagement and outreach in the emerging era of AI- enabled integrated science.

As identified in the DOE’s Mission Need Statement for the High Performance Data Facility approved August 2020, DOE anticipates that the total project cost of the HPDF project, including the hub and spokes, will be between $300 million and $500 million in current and future year funds, subject to the availability of future year appropriations.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and author of the bipartisan law to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, today released a statement on the one-year anniversary of the CHIPS and Science Act: 

“I fought to pass the CHIPS and Science Act because it’s good for our supply chains, our families, and our national security to make semiconductors here at home. In the year since, the law has bolstered innovation, helped America to compete against countries like China for the technology of the future, and created good-paying manufacturing jobs that will grow the middle class.”

Nearly everything that has an “on” switch – from electric toothbrushes and calculators to airplanes and satellites – contains a semiconductor. One year ago, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, a law co-authored by Warner to make a nearly $53 billion investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, and workforce, and create a 25 percent tax credit for capital investments in semiconductor manufacturing. 

Semiconductors were invented in the United States, but today we produce only about 12 percent of global supply – and none of the most advanced chips. Similarly, investments in research and development have fallen to less than 1 percent of GDP from 2 percent in the mid-1960s at the peak of the space race. TheCHIPS and Science Act aims to change this by driving American competitiveness, making American supply chains more resilient, and supporting our national security and access to key technologies. In the one year since it was signed into law, companies have announced over $231 billion in commitments in semiconductor and electronics investments in the United States.

Last month, Sen. Warner co-hosted the CHIPS for Virginia Summit, convening industry, federal and state government, and academic leaders for a series of strategic discussions on how to propel Virginia forward in the booming U.S. semiconductor economy.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today urged the Biden administration to build on its recently announced voluntary commitments from several prominent artificial intelligence (AI) leaders in order to promote greater security, safety, and trust in the rapidly developing AI field.

As AI is rolled out more broadly, researchers have repeatedly demonstrated a number of concerning, exploitable weaknesses in prominent products, including abilities to generate credible-seeming misinformation, develop malware, and craft sophisticated phishing techniques. On Friday, the Biden administration announced that several AI companies had agreed to a series of measures that would promote greater security and transparency. Sen. Warner wrote to the administration to applaud these efforts and laid out a series of next steps to bolster this progress, including extending commitments to less capable models, seeking consumer-facing commitments, and developing an engagement strategy to better address security risks.

“These commitments have the potential to shape developer norms and best practices associated with leading-edge AI models. At the same time, even less capable models are susceptible to misuse, security compromise, and proliferation risks,” Sen. Warner wrote. “As the current commitments stand, leading vendors do not appear inclined to extending these vital development commitments to the wider range of AI products they have released that fall below this threshold or have been released as open source models.”

The letter builds on Sen. Warner’s continued advocacy for the responsible development and deployment of AI. In April, Sen. Warner directly expressed concerns to several AI CEOs about the potential risks posed by AI, and called on companies to ensure that their products and systems are secure.

The letter also affirms Congress’ role in regulating AI, and expands on the annual Intelligence Authorization Act, legislation that recently passed unanimously through the Sente Select Committee on Intelligence. Sen. Warner urges the administration to adopt the strategy outlined in this pending bill as well as work with the FBI, CISA, ODNI, and other federal agencies to fully address the potential risks of AI technology.

Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, has been a vocal advocate for Big Tech accountability and a stronger national posture against cyberattacks and misinformation online. In addition to his April letters, has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at addressing these issues, including the RESTRICT Act, which would comprehensively address the ongoing threat posed by technology from foreign adversaries; the SAFE TECH Act, which would reform Section 230 and allow social media companies to be held accountable for enabling cyber-stalking, online harassment, and discrimination on social media platforms; and the Honest Ads Act, which would require online political advertisements to adhere to the same disclaimer requirements as TV, radio, and print ads.

A copy of the letter can be found here and below. 

Dear President Biden,

I write to applaud the Administration’s significant efforts to secure voluntary commitments from leading AI vendors related to promoting greater security, safety, and trust through improved development practices. These commitments – largely applicable to these vendors’ most advanced products – can materially reduce a range of security and safety risks identified by researchers and developers in recent years. In April, I wrote to a number of these same companies, urging them to prioritize security and safety in their development, product release, and post-deployment practices. Among other things, I asked them to fully map dependencies and downstream implications of compromise of their systems; focus greater financial, technical and personnel resources on internal security; and improve their transparency practices through greater documentation of system capabilities, system limitations, and training data.

These commitments have the potential to shape developer norms and best practices associated with leading-edge AI models. At the same time, even less capable models are susceptible to misuse, security compromise, and proliferation risks. Moreover, a growing roster of highly-capable open source models have been released to the public – and would benefit from similar pre-deployment commitments contained in a number of the July 21^st obligations. As the current commitments stand, leading vendors do not appear inclined to extending these vital development commitments to the wider range of AI products they have released that fall below this threshold or have been released as open source models. 

To be sure, responsibility ultimately lies with Congress to develop laws that advance consumer and patient safety, address national security and cyber-crime risks, and promote secure development practices in this burgeoning and highly consequential industry – and in the downstream industries integrating their products. In the interim, the important commitments your Administration has secured can be bolstered in a number of important ways. 

First, I strongly encourage your Administration to continue engagement with this industry to extend these all of these commitments more broadly to less capable models that, in part through their wider adoption, can produce the most frequent examples of misuse and compromise.

Second, it is vital to build on these developer- and researcher-facing commitments with a suite of lightweight consumer-facing commitments to prevent the most serious forms of abuse. Most prominent among these should be commitments from leading vendors to adopt development practices, licensing terms, and post-deployment monitoring practices that prevent non-consensual intimate image generation, social-scoring, real-time facial recognition (in contexts not governed by existing legal protections or due process safeguards), and proliferation activity in the context of malicious cyber activity or the production of biological or chemical agents.

Lastly, the Administration’s successful high-level engagement with the leadership of these companies must be complemented by a deeper engagement strategy to track national security risks associated with these technologies. In June, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on a bipartisan basis advanced our annual Intelligence Authorization Act, a provision of which directed the President to establish a strategy to better engage vendors, downstream commercial users, and independent researchers on the security risks posed by, or directed at, AI systems.

This provision was spurred by conversations with leading vendors, who confided that they would not know how best to report malicious activity – such as suspected intrusions of their internal networks, observed efforts by foreign actors to generate or refine malware using their tools, or identified activity by foreign malign actors to generate content to mislead or intimidate voters.  To be sure, a highly-capable and well-established set of resources, processes, and organizations – including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Foreign Malign Influence Center – exist to engage these communities, including through counter-intelligence education and defensive briefings. Nonetheless, it appears that these entities have not been fully activated to engage the range of key stakeholders in this space. For this reason, I would encourage you to pursue the contours of the strategy outlined in our pending bill. 

Thank you for your Administration’s important leadership in this area. I look forward to working with you to develop bipartisan legislation in this area.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the statement below after the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) announced that it would extend current flexibilities around telehealth prescriptions of controlled substances, including those that treat opioid use disorder and anxiety, while it reviews a record number of comments received in response to its new proposed telemedicine rules. This move follows strong advocacy by Sen. Warner, who spoke out in March about the need to ensure that patients can continue getting their medications and sent a letter to DEA in August 2022 asking them to explain their plan for continuity of care after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

“I’m pleased to see that the DEA is taking additional time to consider the comments to their proposed rule, which I believe overlooked the key benefits and lessons learned during the pandemic. This proposed rule could counterproductively exacerbate the opioid crisis and push patients to seek dangerous alternatives to proper health care, such as self-medicating, by removing a telehealth option in many cases. I’m working with my colleagues in Congress on a response to DEA’s proposed rule, and I look forward to further robust discussion on this critical issue.”

During COVID-19, patients widely adopted telehealth as a convenient and accessible way to get care remotely. This was made possible by the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, which allowed for a number of flexibilities, including utilizing an exception to the in-person medical evaluation requirement under the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, legislation regulating the online prescription of controlled substances. With the Public Health Emergency set to expire, patients will soon lose the ability to reap the benefits of a mature telehealth system in which responsible providers know how to take care of their patients remotely when appropriate.  

Since 2008, Congress has directed the DEA to set up a special registration process, another exception process under the Ryan Haight Act, that would open up the door for quality health care providers to evaluate a patient and prescribe controlled substances over telehealth safely, as they’ve done during the pandemic. This special registration process has yet to be established, and DEA wrote they believe this proposed rule fulfills those Congressional mandates, despite not proposing such a registration.

Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, has been a longtime advocate for increased access to telehealth. He is a co-author of the CONNECT for Health Act, which would expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities permanent, improve health outcomes, and make it easier for patients to safely connect with their doctors. He previously wrote to both the Biden and Trump administrations, urging the DEA to finalize regulations long-delayed by prior administrations allowing doctors to prescribe controlled substances through telehealth. Sen. Warner also sent a letter to Senate leadership during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, calling for the permanent expansion of access to telehealth services.

In 2018, Sen. Warner included a provision to expand financial coverage for virtual substance use treatment in the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018. In 2003, then-Gov. Warner expanded Medicaid coverage for telemedicine statewide, including evaluation and management visits, a range of individual psychotherapies, the full range of consultations, and some clinical services, including in cardiology and obstetrics. Coverage was also expanded to include non-physician providers. Among other benefits, the telehealth expansion allowed individuals in medically underserved and remote areas of Virginia to access quality specialty care that isn’t always available at home.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today urged CEOs of several artificial intelligence (AI) companies to prioritize security, combat bias, and responsibly roll out new technologies. In a series of letters, Sen. Warner expressed concerns about the potential risks posed by AI technology, and called on companies to ensure that their products and systems are secure.

In the past several years, AI technology has rapidly advanced while chatbots and other generative AI products have simultaneously widened the accessibility of AI products and services. As these technologies are rolled out broadly, open source researchers have repeatedly demonstrated a number of concerning, exploitable weaknesses in the prominent products, including abilities to generate credible-seeming misinformation, develop malware, and craft sophisticated phishing techniques.

“[W]ith the increasing use of AI across large swaths of our economy, and the possibility for large language models to be steadily integrated into a range of existing systems, from healthcare to finance sectors, I see an urgent need to underscore the importance of putting security at the forefront of your work,” Sen. Warner wrote. “Beyond industry commitments, however, it is also clear that some level of regulation is necessary in this field.”

Sen. Warner highlighted several specific security risks associated with AI, including data supply chain security and data poisoning attacks. He also expressed concerns about algorithmic bias, trustworthiness, and potential misuse or malicious use of AI systems.

The letters include a series of questions for companies developing large-scale AI models to answer, aimed at ensuring that they are taking appropriate measures to address these security risks. Among the questions are inquiries about companies' security strategies, limits on third-party access to their models that undermine the ability to evaluate model fitness, and steps taken to ensure secure and accurate data inputs and outputs. Recipients of the letter include the CEOs of OpenAI, Scale AI, Meta, Google, Apple, Stability AI, Midjourney, Anthropic, Percipient.ai, and Microsoft.

Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, has been a vocal advocate for Big Tech accountability and a stronger national posture against cyberattacks and misinformation online. He has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at addressing these issues, including the RESTRICT Act, which would comprehensively address the ongoing threat posed by technology from foreign adversaries; the SAFE TECH Act, which would reform Section 230 and allow social media companies to be held accountable for enabling cyber-stalking, online harassment, and discrimination on social media platforms; and the Honest Ads Act, which would require online political advertisements to adhere to the same disclaimer requirements as TV, radio, and print ads.

A copy of the letters can be found here and below. 

I write today regarding the need to prioritize security in the design and development of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. As companies like yours make rapid advancements in AI, we must acknowledge the security risks inherent in this technology and ensure AI development and adoption proceeds in a responsible and secure way. While public concern about the safety and security of AI has been on the rise, I know that work on AI security is not new. However, with the increasing use of AI across large swaths of our economy, and the possibility for large language models to be steadily integrated into a range of existing systems, from healthcare to finance sectors, I see an urgent need to underscore the importance of putting security at the forefront of your work. Beyond industry commitments, however, it is also clear that some level of regulation is necessary in this field.

I recognize the important work you and your colleagues are doing to advance AI. As a leading company in this emerging technology, I believe you have a responsibility to ensure that your technology products and systems are secure. I have long advocated for incorporating security-by-design, as we have found time and again that failing to consider security early in the product development lifecycle leads to more costly and less effective security. Instead, incorporating security upfront can reduce costs and risks. Moreover, the last five years have demonstrated that the ways in which the speed, scale, and excitement associated with new technologies have frequently obscured the shortcomings of their creators in anticipating the harmful effects of their use. AI capabilities hold enormous potential; however, we must ensure that they do not advance without appropriate safeguards and regulation. 

While it is important to apply many of the same security principles we associate with traditional computing services and devices, AI presents a new set of security concerns that are distinct from traditional software vulnerabilities. Some of the AI-specific security risks that I am concerned about include the origin, quality, and accuracy of input data (data supply chain), tampering with training data (data poisoning attacks), and inputs to models that intentionally cause them to make mistakes (adversarial examples). Each of these risks further highlighting the need for secure, quality data inputs. Broadly speaking, these techniques can effectively defeat or degrade the integrity, security, or performance of an AI system (including the potential confidentiality of its training data). As leading models are increasingly integrated into larger systems, often without fully mapping dependencies and downstream implications, the effects of adversarial attacks on AI systems are only magnified.

In addition to those risks, I also have concerns regarding bias, trustworthiness, and potential misuse or malicious use of AI systems. In the last six months, we have seen open source researchers repeatedly exploit a number of prominent, publicly-accessible generative models – crafting a range of clever (and often foreseeable) prompts to easily circumvent a system’s rules. Examples include using widely-adopted models to generate malware, craft increasingly sophisticated phishing techniques, contribute to disinformation, and provide harmful information. It is imperative that we address threats to not only digital security, but also threats to physical security and political security.

In light of this, I am interested in learning about the measures that your company is taking to ensure the security of its AI systems. I request that you provide answers to the following questions no later than May 26, 2023.

Questions: 

1.     Can you provide an overview of your company’s security approach or strategy?

2.     What limits do you enforce on third-party access to your model and how do you actively monitor for non-compliant uses?

3.     Are you participating in third party (internal or external) test & evaluation, verification & validation of your systems?

4.     What steps have you taken to ensure that you have secure and accurate data inputs and outputs? Have you provided comprehensive and accurate documentation of your training data to downstream users to allow them to evaluate whether your model is appropriate for their use?

5.     Do you provide complete and accurate documentation of your model to commercial users? Which documentation standards or procedures do you rely on?

6.     What kind of input sanitization techniques do you implement to ensure that your systems are not susceptible to prompt injection techniques that pose underlying system risks?

7.     How are you monitoring and auditing your systems to detect and mitigate security breaches?

8.     Can you explain the security measures that you take to prevent unauthorized access to your systems and models?

9.     How do you protect your systems against potential breaches or cyberattacks? Do you have a plan in place to respond to a potential security incident? What is your process for alerting users that have integrated your model into downstream systems? 

10. What is your process for ensuring the privacy of sensitive or personal information you that your system uses?

11. Can you describe how your company has handled past security incidents?

12. What security standards, if any, are you adhering to? Are you using NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework?

13. Is your company participating in the development of technical standards related to AI and AI security?

14. How are you ensuring that your company continues to be knowledgeable about evolving security best practices and risks? 

15. How is your company addressing concerns about AI trustworthiness, including potential algorithmic bias and misuse or malicious use of AI?

16. Have you identified any security challenges unique to AI that you believe policymakers should address?

Thank you for your attention to these important matters and I look forward to your response. 

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