# Plain Language Summary: No AI Audits Act

This bill would prevent the IRS from using artificial intelligence to decide which taxpayers to audit or investigate. Right now, the IRS can use AI systems to flag returns for examination, but this bill says that's not allowed anymore. Instead, a real person—specifically a staff investigator at the IRS—would have to manually review your tax return and make the decision to audit you. The bill also requires that when the IRS does start an investigation, they have to tell you the name and contact information of the actual investigator handling your case.

The bill includes an important safeguard: if the IRS wants to use AI for any other purposes related to audits or investigations, that AI system has to meet "explainability principles" set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In plain terms, this means the AI would have to be able to explain its reasoning in a way that humans can understand—you couldn't just have a black-box system making decisions without anyone knowing why. The bill also requires the IRS to follow formal rule-making procedures if they create any new guidance about using AI, which means they'd have to go through a public comment period before implementing changes.

Additionally, the bill directs Congress's auditing agency (the Comptroller General) to study how the IRS currently uses AI and report back on whether it's actually worth the cost and whether it's hurting taxpayers' rights. This is meant to give lawmakers solid information about whether AI audits are helping or harming people.

The practical effect would be that tax audits would take longer and potentially cost the IRS more money, since human investigators would need to manually review cases instead of AI systems quickly flagging suspicious returns. Whether this is good or bad depends on your perspective: some people worry AI makes mistakes or unfairly targets certain groups, while others think removing AI would make the IRS less efficient at catching tax fraud.

No AI Audits Act

Higgins, Clay

No AI Audits Act This bill prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from conducting a taxpayer audit based upon the use of artificial intelligence (AI) unless it determines that such AI meets certain explainability principles established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Additionally, the bill requires that any investigation or examination of a taxpayer can only be selected or initiated by an IRS staff investigator.