READ AI Models Act

This bill mandates the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish a pilot program focused on developing comprehensive documentation resources for artificial intelligence (AI) models. The program will create a structured template and accompanying technical guidelines for documenting AI models and their associated data, applicable to both public and private sector use. This initiative aims to standardize how AI models are described and understood. NIST is tasked with producing a modular template designed to capture essential information about AI models, such as their name, developer, release date, and knowledge cutoff for training data. These technical guidelines will incorporate relevant metrics, benchmarks, and voluntary consensus-based technical standards to ensure thorough and consistent documentation. The initiative aims to enhance transparency and facilitate the evaluation of AI systems. To ensure broad applicability and effectiveness, NIST will engage in extensive collaboration with federal agencies, private sector entities, academic institutions, and international standards organizations. A crucial step involves publishing a draft template and guidelines in the Federal Register for a minimum 60-day public comment period. Within 12 months of the pilot program's establishment, NIST must report to Congress on its effectiveness and, if successful, propose a plan for permanent implementation, making the resources publicly available.