The US House of Representatives has imposed a strict ban on the use of Microsoft’s Copilot generative artificial intelligence assistant by congressional staffers, Axios reported Friday.
“Microsoft Copilot has been assessed as a risk to users by the Office of Cybersecurity due to the threat of leaking House data to non-House-approved cloud services,” House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor said, according to Axios.
“We recognize that government users have higher data security requirements. That’s why we’ve announced a plan for Microsoft AI tools like Copilot that meet the federal government’s security and compliance requirements, which we plan to deliver later this year,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters.
The US House’s chief administrative office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Policymakers have addressed the potential risks in the adoption of artificial intelligence by federal agencies and the adequacy of safeguards to protect individual privacy and ensure fair treatment.
Last year, two Democratic and two Republican senators introduced legislation to ban the use of artificial intelligence that creates content falsely portraying candidates in political ads to influence federal elections.
