The Literacy in Future Technologies Artificial Intelligence Act (LIFT AI Act), S.4414 in the 119th Congress, is a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill introduced April 28, 2026 by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) as original cosponsor. Its official title is "A bill to improve educational efforts related to artificial intelligence literacy at the elementary school and secondary school level, and for other purposes" (Source: congress.gov). It authorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) director to award merit-reviewed competitive grants for the development of K-12 AI-literacy curricula, instructional materials, teacher professional development, and evaluation methods. The bill was publicly endorsed by OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. (Source: 404media.co)
Status and timeline
The bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate on April 28, 2026, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where it remained as of July 2026 (Source: congress.gov). 404 Media, reporting in early May 2026, dated the introduction to May 4; the congress.gov bill record gives April 28, 2026, which this page follows (Source: congress.gov; Source: 404media.co). The bill was endorsed publicly by OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. (Source: 404media.co)
A House companion, H.R.5584 (also titled the LIFT AI Act), was referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on September 26, 2025 and is identified by CRS as a related bill (Source: congress.gov).
Scope and definitions
The bill defines AI literacy as the age-appropriate ability "to use artificial intelligence effectively, to critically interpret outputs, to solve problems in an AI-enabled world, and to mitigate potential risks." The definition combines utilitarian use ("use effectively," "solve problems") with critical-distance elements ("critically interpret," "mitigate risks"), spanning both AI-as-tool and AI-as-object-of-skepticism framings in the educator debate. (Source: 404media.co)
Key provisions
The bill empowers the NSF director to award merit-reviewed competitive grants to higher-education institutions and nonprofits. Grant recipients would develop K-12 AI-literacy curricula, instructional materials, teacher professional development, and evaluation methods. (Source: 404media.co)
The program is channeled through the NSF rather than the Department of Education. Routing it through the NSF reflects both political considerations (the NSF has historically drawn broader bipartisan support than the Department of Education) and the bill's reliance on competitive merit review rather than formula grants. (Source: 404media.co)
The bill is described as the first federal measure to tie federal grant-making to K-12-specific curriculum and teacher-development workstreams. Earlier bills had addressed AI workforce reskilling (community colleges, apprenticeships) and adult AI literacy. (Source: 404media.co)
Funding context
The bill arrives as the NSF has absorbed substantial Trump-administration cuts to its science-research budget. The LIFT AI Act would direct new competitive-grant authority into an agency whose discretionary base has been shrinking, leaving award sizes, total appropriations, and the displacement of other NSF priorities as open questions in any markup or appropriations fight. (Source: 404media.co)
Reactions
OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft endorsed the bill simultaneously. The 404 Media report frames the joint endorsement as part of an industry push for K-12 distribution as a legitimacy strategy, paralleling state-level vendor outreach (notably to California, New York, and Texas) and OpenAI's own ChatGPT-in-schools pilots. (Source: 404media.co)
Relationships
- related: AI in Education — broader concept frame for AI in K-12 and higher education.
- related: OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft — endorsing companies; cross-link from each company's policy positions.
- related: Adam Schiff (if exists), Mike Rounds (if exists) — sponsoring senators.
- related: America's AI Action Plan — federal-level AI policy umbrella against which the LIFT AI Act's NSF channel can be compared.