H.R. 6461 — READ AI Models Act

This section directs the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), subject to the availability of appropriations, to initiate a pilot program—developed in consultation with other federal agencies as appropriate—to establish a modular structured template and associated technical guidelines for documentation of artificial intelligence (AI) models and data used by public- and private-sector entities. The template covers information such as the model's name, developer identification and incorporation location, release date, training data knowledge cutoff date, supported languages, and terms of service; the guidelines incorporate metrics, benchmarks, voluntary consensus standards, and industry best practices. In developing these resources, the Director must collaborate with private-sector entities, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, international standards organizations, and federal agencies, and publish a draft in the Federal Register for at least 60 days of public comment. Not later than 12 months after initiating the pilot, the Director must report to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation assessing its effectiveness and, if effective, outlining a plan for permanent implementation; the Director must also publish the final template and guidelines on NIST's website. The section defines "artificial intelligence model" as a software component of an information system that implements AI technology using computational, statistical, or machine-learning techniques to produce outputs from defined inputs (and cross-references existing definitions of "artificial intelligence," "Director," "institution of higher education," "nonprofit organization," and "international standards organization").