Cybersecurity Policy Report, Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Establish AI Testing Standards, (Aug 4, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Bipartisan Policy Center, Health IT Now | Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology would establish criteria for independent evaluations of claims made by developers of artificial intelligence systems regarding their systems’ adherence to data privacy and security practices under bipartisan Senate legislation unveiled on Friday.
The Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (VET AI) Act (S.B. 2615, 119th Cong. (2025)) was introduced by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D., Colo.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s consumer protection, technology, and data privacy subcommittee.
The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.).
“The horse is already out of the barn when it comes to AI. The U.S. should lead in setting sensible guardrails for AI to ensure these innovations are developed responsibly to benefit all Americans as they harness this rapidly growing technology,” Sen. Hickenlooper said in a news release.
The VET AI Act would direct NIST “to develop voluntary specifications and guidelines for developers and deployers of AI systems to conduct internal assurance and work with third parties on external assurance regarding the verification and red-teaming of AI systems,” he explained.
The NIST guidance would have to address “considerations for data privacy protections, mitigations against potential harms to individuals from an AI system, dataset quality, and governance and communications processes of a developer or deployer throughout the AI systems’ development lifecycles,” he said.
The bill received endorsements from a variety of groups, including Bipartisan Policy Center Action. “This bill will spur AI development and deployment while also protecting Americans from privacy harms. Its commonsense public-private sector approach will help grow consumer trust in AI, ensuring more Americans and businesses can reap its benefits,” said Michele Stockwell, the group’s president.
“To fully harness the enormous power of AI, it’s critical that we empower AI developers and deployers with stakeholder-informed, voluntary frameworks for assuring the resilience of their AI systems—to include cybersecurity,” said Daniel Kroese, vice president–public policy & government affairs for Palo Alto Networks.
“Palo Alto Networks firmly believes that AI adoption and security go hand-in-hand, and applauds Senators Hickenlooper and Capito for this common sense legislation,” Mr. Kroese added.
Sens. Hickenlooper and Capito last year introduced similar legislation that stalled after advancing out of the Senate Commerce Committee.
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