As AI gallops through the federal workforce, lawmakers once again call for expanded training

AI is here to stay, so representatives Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Shontel Brown (D-OH) have introduced a bill to ensure more US federal government employees are properly trained to use it.

The AI Training Extension Act of 2025, introduced by Mace and Brown last week, isn't a new idea - the federal government has already been training employees to work with AI for some time under the 2022 Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act [PDF].

That law created an AI training regime for program managers and workers focused on procurement and logistics, plus other employees at agencies' discretion.

The AI Training Extension Act of 2025 [PDF] would deliver AI training to managers and supervisors, plus employees working in roles related to data and tech. The proposed law also allows AI training to be incorporated "into any other training program" that officials deem fit.

"This bill ensures our workforce has the knowledge, tools, and guardrails to use AI effectively, responsibly, and in service of the American people," Mace said in a statement.

The bill updates and expands the 2022 AI training curriculum. It replaces vague references to the "science underlying AI" with more practical modules on what AI is, its capabilities and risks, privacy and security considerations, how agencies should manage its deployment, and the critical role data plays in all of it.

It also requires that training materials align with federal guidance from the Office of Management and Budget under existing AI legislation.

"AI is here to stay - and we must ensure federal employees at every level are trained to use it wisely, safely, and effectively," Brown said of the measure.

As is so often the case with such common-sense measures, passage of this bill is far from a sure thing.

Mace proposed a near-identical bill - the "AI Training Expansion Act of 2023" - but that measure never advanced to a full House vote, despite being marked up, amended, and reported out of committee just two days after it was introduced.

The right to regulate

The US Senate is currently debating President Donald Trump's budget reconciliation bill, which would strip states of the right to regulate the tech on their own for a decade.

Legislators on both sides of the aisle dislike the proposal and fear it could sink the reconciliation bill.

Republican Senators have therefore introduced a measure tying the AI regulation moratorium to broadband expansion funding. That tactic could mean states that would lose access to broadband expansion funds if they enact state-level AI regulations, and make it easier for lawmakers to pass a budget reconciliation bill shorn of AI regulations.

We asked both Mace and Brown to comment on the state of AI regulation. Neither had responded at the time of writing. ®