Thornberry and Smith name new AI commissioners

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the panel's ranking Democrat, made new appointments today to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

Thornberry has appointed former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who now serves as chairman of the Defense Innovation Board and a technical advisor to the board of Alphabet.

Smith, meanwhile, has appointed Eric Horvitz, a technical fellow and director of Microsoft Research Labs, who previously served as president of the Association for the Advancement of AI.

The AI commission, established by the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, “is intended to review advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associated technologies with national security implications, including the competitiveness of U.S. efforts, international trends and cooperation, workforce and education incentives, data standards, and ethical considerations for future application,” according to a statement from the committee.