This shift in the body politic, which we now need to address and i am in full agreement that we need to address it, dont mistake me here, but i think there is a corollary question of why. Why are we in this situation and is there something about our democracy that also needs to be addressed as part of this process . We believe is here but you can watch it in its entirety on our website, cspan. Org. Take you live now to capital hill where the House Committee is holding a hearing on how Artificial Intelligence can help defend and secure the u. S. Live coverage, here on cspan3. Cspan3 without objection, the chairman to claim in recess at any point. The purpose of this hearing is to receive test money from private sector stakeholders relating to the opportunities and challenges resented by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and discuss how the a. I. Technologies in support of the Homeland Security mission. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. In this era of rapidly advancing technology, i am especially proud to live in a nation of innovators, some of whom join us today. Today, American Ingenuity is paving the way once again. Artificial intelligence, or a. I. , promises to transform the Global Economy as we know it. A. I. Has the potential to create new jobs, catalyze productivity in americans, and of course, protect our men and women in uniform and Law Enforcement. Throughout this congress, committees in both chambers have convened numerous hearings to understand the countless opportunities and challenges a. I. Presents. Like cybersecurity, a. I. s impact is a complex and crosscutting issue that cannot be handled by one jurisdiction alone. Therefore, we are here to examine what i believe to be the most promising areas of which to expand our use of a. I. , the security and defense of our homeland. The committee on Homeland Security has no obligation to make sure we harness it correct, as with any technology, it presents new risks and we must take the time to understand them. This includes prioritizing safety and security throughout a. I. Development. Deployment and use. It also requires us to treat a. I. With appropriate nuance so that we understand the impact of proposed regulatory measures on our businesses. Todays full Committee Hearing follows up on a productive cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection subCommittee Hearing led by chairman last december. The subcommittee specifically considered the role of dhs and securing a. I. , a topic we will continue to explore today. As that hearing reaffirmed the threats facing our country or increasingly complex, and dhs plays a Critical Role in keeping americans safe at our country secure. Dhs has a Broad Mission and has explored and even implemented a. I. For specific purposes aligned with its unique missions. For example a u. S. Customs and Border Protection as used a. I. Powered systems to monitor monitor cameras, which help identify suspicious activity and unauthorized crossings in real time. The transportation and Security Administration is currently examining the ways in which a. I. Can enhance its security screening, including using a. I. To augment its xray imaging of travelers travelers carry on coverage. Powered by a. I. To identify security threats among the traveling public and enhance the prescreening process. With these a. I. Powered systems, while these a. I. Power systems offer the promise of increased security and efficiency, they also bring significant risk that Congress Must carefully assess. For instance, a. I. Powered facial recognition, which present substantial privacy concerns. We must ensure that the use of a. I. Powered facial recognition by tsa is balanced with strong protections of privacy, Civil Liberties and ethical standards. Furthermore, u. S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is using a. I. To help identify and track illegal activities such as Human Trafficking and smuggling. By analyzing large data sets and protecting patterns, in the cybersecurity and infrastructure and security is carefully examining the risks and opportunities presented by a. I. In the way can be leveraged to enhance our resilience against Cyber Threats. In the years ahead, it will play a Critical Role in addressing and managing risks at the nexus of a. I. , cybersecurity, and Critical Infrastructure. Considering the widespread push for a. I. Adoption within dhs, its critical that the department collaborate and with relevant stakeholders, including those from the private sector to manage a. I. s complexities and risks. In addition to domestic concerns relating to the emergence of a. I. , we must also consider the broader, strategic implications. Our nations primary strategic adversary, the peoples republic of china, has made a. I. Development a National Priority and is investing heavily in its research, talents, and infrastructure. Not only economically, but also in terms of our National Security. In fact, the 2024 threat assessment warns that developing, quote, malicious cyber actors have begun testing the capabilities of a. I. Develop malware, and a. I. Assistant Software Development. Technologies that have the potential to enable larger scale, faster, efficient, and more invasive Cyber Attacks against targets including pipelines, railways, and other infrastructure. This is extremely concerning, and as complex as these threats are, our efforts to combat them will be even more challenging if our adversaries development and innovation. For these reasons, it is important for congress, dhs, and the private sector to Work Together to ensure that we remain at the forefront of a. I. Innovation while safeguarding our National Security, economic competitiveness, and Civil Liberties. Today, we will hear from a panel of experts with insights and the steps that we can take to trust that a. I. , the a. I. We use, will be secure. To our witnesses, thank you for being here today for your efforts to educate members of this committee and the American People on how we can responsibly advance a. I. Innovation. I look forward to your testimony. I now recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Thompson for his opening statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Good morning to our witnesses. I would like to thank you for holding this important hearing on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Homeland Security. Artificial intelligence is not new. The department of Homeland Security and its components have a long history of trying to understand how to most appropriate leverage the capacity of a. I. Provides. The release of chatgpt in november of 2022 made clear that a. I. Has transformative potential and in accelerated efforts by the administration and congress to ensure the United States continued to lead the world on the responsible development in the use of a. I. Please consider to better secure the homeland, we must keep three critical principles in mind. First, we must ensure that a. I. Models be used in the data to train them do not reinforce existing biases. That requires that a. I. Used by the government be developed pursuant to specific policies designed to eliminate bias and is tested and retested to ensure it is not having that effect. Eliminating bias with a. I. Also requires a diverse a. I. Workforce. Comprised of people from a variety of backgrounds who can identify potential biases and prevent biases from being encoded into the models. Second, the government must rigorously assess appropriate use cases for a. I. And ensure that the deployment of a. I. Will not jeopardize the civil rights, Civil Liberties, or privacies of the product. Law enforcement and National Security agencies in particular must implement and exacting review of potential infringements on those fundamental democratic principles. Moreover, it is essential that the workforce be included in decisionmaking processes on how a. I. Will be deployed. The workforce is the is in the best position to understand capability gaps and where a. I. Can be affected. A. I. Is also, used to carry out their jobs more effectively. Its not, and should not ever be a replacement for people finally, the a. I. Tools we use must be secure. Admit exists, can be adopted to secure a. I. I commend the cybersecurity and infrastructure, Security Agency, commonly called for working with the private sector to ensure that the adoption of secure by Design Principles in the development of a. I. Moving forward, we must determine vulnerabilities unique to a. I. And Work Together to address them. I commend President Biden on last years executive order on a. I. Which put the government on the path to developing and deploying a. I. In a manner consistent with these principles. As dhs continues to assess how we use a. I. To carry out this mission said from cybersecurity to Disaster Response to aviation security, im confident that it will do so in a manner that incorporates feedback Civil Liberties and privacy. We cannot allow our optimism about the benefits of a. I. To shortcircuit as we evaluate this new technology. At the end of the day, Bad Technology is bad for security. As we consider the potential benefits a. I. s presenting for the mission, we must also consider the new threats it proposes. A. I. In the hands of our adversaries can jeopardize the security of federal and Critical Infrastructure networks, as well as the integrity of our elections. We know that china, russia, and iran have spent the past four years honing their abilities to influence our elections. So discord, among the american public, and undermine confidence in our election results. Advances in a. I. Will only make their job easier. So we must redouble our efforts to identify this content and empower the public to identify Malicious Foreign influence operations. I look forward to a robust conversation about how the department of Homeland Security can use a. I. Strategically to carry out its mission more effectively. I look forward to the witness testimony, mr. Chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. I want to thank the Ranking Member for his comments. A members of the committee, i want to remind you that Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. Im pleased to have a distinguished panel of witnesses before us today and i asked that our witnesses please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you give before the committee on Homeland Security of the United States house of representatives will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me god . Thank you, please be seated. I would now like to formally introduce our witnesses, mr. Troy demmer is the cofounder and chief product officer of gecko robotics, a company combining and a. I. Powered software to help ensure the reliability and sustainability of Critical Infrastructure. Today, the innovative climbing robots capture data from the real world that was never before assessed from pipeline, missile silos, and other critical asset types. Geckos a. I. Driven Software Platform enables human experts to contextualize the data and translated into operational improvements. Chief Technology Officer, Vice President of engineering. He has over 20 years of extremes working on high profile incidents and leading research and development teams, including at National Security agencies. Hes also an adjunct mr. Sikorski is also an adjunct at club university. Mr. Ajay amlani how do you pronounce your name, sir . Ajay amlani. Got it. Thank you. Currently serves as the president and head of the americans for iproov, a global provider of authentication proxies for online enrollment and verification. In addition, use well recognized identity as a strategic adviser for industry leaders, working in Artificial Intelligence, and ecommerce. The Deputy Director of the center of democracy and technology and surveillance project, prior to joining cdt, jake worked as senior counsel at the constitution project, the project on government oversight. He also previously served as a Program Fellow at the open Technology Institute and law clerk at the seneca subcommittee on technology and the law. Again, i think our witnesses for being here and i now recognize mr. Dummer for five minutes to summarize his opening statement. Good morning, chairman. Ranking member thomas thompson, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to join you today. My name is troy demmer and i am the cofounder of gecko robotics. That uses robots, software, and a. I. To change how we understand the health and integrity of physical infrastructure. Back in 2013, gecko started with a problem, the power plant where mike cofounder and i had to go to college to keep shutting down due to critical assets feeling. The problem was obvious in the first meeting. They had almost no data. The data that had been collected was collected very manually with the gauge reader and a single point. Sensor measurement. Furthermore, the data was often collected by workers working off of ropes at elevated heights or in confined spaces. Resulting in few measurement readings. That meant the powerpoint had to make power plant had to make reactive decisions rather than proactive. Using Rapid Technology technological advances to get better data and generate better outcomes. We use that armed with various sensor payloads that can gather 1000 times more data at 10 times the speed, compared to traditional methods. We also have a Software Platform that takes that data and combines it with other data sets to build a first order understanding of the health of Critical Infrastructure. Where are the vulnerabilities . What do we need to do to be proactive before fixing it, before the problem occurs . And how to prevent catastrophic disasters . Those are the problems gecko is solving today for some of the most Critical Infrastructure that protects the american way of life. We are helping and build the nextgeneration military equipment smarter. We are helping the u. S. Air force create a digital baseline for the largest Infrastructure Program since the eisenhower interstate highway project. And we are working with various other critical public and commercial Infrastructure Projects across the country. And every one of these cases, the missing link is the data and that brings us to the conversation we are having in todays hearing. A. I. Models are only as good as the inputs they are trained on. Trustworthy a. I. Requires trustworthy data inputs. Data inputs that are audible, interrogate will come a day inputs that provide a complete and undiluted answer to questions we are asking. When it comes to our Critical Infrastructure, infrastructure that powers the american way of life and protection of the homeland, though data inputs do not exist. Without better data, even the most sophisticated a. I. Models will be a best and effective, and at worst, harmful. If the way america collects data on infrastructure today hasnt fundamentally changed in 50 years, today, despite advances and Data Collection technologies like robots, drones, sensors, smart probes that can detect we are still largely gathering data manually, even on her most Critical Infrastructure like dams, pipelines, power plants, and more. To give you one more example, we have one who collects classes, both manually and with the robots. The manual process collected by handheld sensors and the robots on the same asset collect more than 1 million. That more than 2600 times the data, data that multiplies the power of a. I. Models, that is the scale and the difference between new technology and manual processes that still largely rely on critical info structure. Without better Data Collection, a. I. Will never meet his potential to that protects the homeland and the american way of life. As i conclude, i