United States of America: Introduced Bill on Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act of 2024 (S 5436)

On 5 December 2024, the United States Senate introduced the Bill on Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act of 2024. The Bill applies to cloud providers, data infrastructure providers, and foundation model providers with Department of Defense contracts exceeding USD 50 million in any of the past five fiscal years. It mandates a competitive procurement process prioritising security, interoperability, and multi-cloud technology and grants the government exclusive rights to its data. Penalties for violations and provisions for exemptions subject to national security considerations are included. It also highlights that annual reporting on AI sector competition and market concentration will begin by 15 January 2026.