WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined together Wednesday to push a plan that would modernize how the federal government hires and trains people familiar with artificial intelligence.

The AI Talent Act would create talent teams and make it easier to find and hire people with certain technical skills.

Leading the charge are Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego, and Jay Obernolte, R-Apple Valley. Senate sponsors are Sens. Andy Kim, D-New Jersey and Jon Husted, R-Ohio.

The bill would “make it easier for government agencies to identify, hire, and retain first-class AI talent,” says Michele Stockwell, president of Bipartisan Policy Center Action.

Jacobs framed the AI issue. “Right now, the government is competing with the private sector, which can hire faster and pay more, leaving critical roles unfilled and U.S. potential untapped,” she said.

Her goal is to “guarantee the United States has the in-house capabilities to innovate safely, protect our country and deliver for the American people.”

What the bill does

According to a bill summary from Jacobs’ office, it would:

— Establish Agency Tech & AI talent teams to improve recruiting, assessments, job announcements and candidate evaluation.

— Authorize the federal personnel agency to create a central AI and tech talent team to lead pooled hiring, provide training and support to agency hiring teams, and develop shared resources.

— Allow subject-matter experts to develop and administer skills-based assessments to ensure candidates demonstrate real technical proficiency.

— Enable agencies to share qualified candidate pools (“shared certificates”), reducing duplicate hiring cycles and speeding placement.

— Create a shared online platform to reuse and customize validated technical assessments across government.

— Phase out automated self-assessments over five years, with limited, publicly posted waivers.

— Allow agencies to stand up additional talent teams in other high-need areas (e.g., cybersecurity, data science, health care, IT).

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