Big Four firm PwC announced it can now provide independent assurance of AI systems so clients can be confident they’ve been designed, deployed and operated responsibly, transparently and, in a growing number of situations, aligned with regulatory expectations.

The firm’s AI assurance services will be performed by teams of AI and machine learning specialists who also have proven expertise in risk management, internal controls, audit and attest services, and external standards. 

“As the first major professional services firm to bring the next evolution of AI assurance services to market — helping to advance the way organizations respond to the demand for transparency and trust in the AI systems they build — we are proud to continue to be profession-leading in a domain that will define the next era of business transformation,” said Jenn Kosar, PwC US’s AI assurance leader. “Assurance for AI builds on our leadership, where we have been early movers in developing methodologies, tools and guidance that help as organizations align their AI practices with core principles, like fairness, transparency, privacy, safety and explainability.”

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Broadly, an AI assurance engagement is intended to help the client gain independent perspective on the integrity, robustness and fairness of their AI systems; assess governance frameworks and control environments; evaluate data sourcing and related management practices to address risks of bias, drift and other common risks; assess the design and effectiveness of their own monitoring and testing procedures; provide users with tested insights to support outcome explainability and interpretability; and receive insights into how company procedures compare to leading practices and emerging standards and regulations. 

Clients might need such services in cases like preparing for new regulatory requirements, managing third-party exposure, upholding corporate values or just having trusted, decision-useful information. Deanna Byrne, PwC US’s assurance leader, noted that as AI increasingly works its way into the global economy, the demand for assurance that these systems can be trusted has only grown. 

“As organizations increasingly adopt AI to drive innovation, transform operations and unlock new sources of value, it is becoming integral to decision-making across industries, and the need for trust has never been greater,” she stated. “With this opportunity comes a parallel demand: stakeholders — including boards, regulators, customers and the public — want confidence that it is effective, fair, accountable and trustworthy. Assurance for AI can help deliver this confidence,” she said. 

While accountants have been examining AI systems to some degree over the past few years, the black box nature of many models has been a challenge. There have been calls recently for audits of AI algorithms themselves, but the more common approach has been observing AI impacts and governance, seen in standards such as ISO 42001 which, rather than looking at the details of specific AI applications, aims to provide a practical way of managing AI-related risks and opportunities across an organization.  

Senate Majority Leader John Thune believes the deal that led the House to increase the maximum deduction for state and local taxes to $40,000 will have to be changed in his chamber, according to his office.  

The Senate has begun deliberations over President Donald Trump’s massive “Big Beautiful Bill” that narrowly passed the House on May 22, with several Republican senators expressing concerns over its cost as well as cuts to Medicaid and clean energy tax credits.

Ryan Wrasse, a Thune spokesman, did not provide details about how, exactly, the deal might be revised.   

Republican lawmakers from states like New York and California demanded that the SALT cap be raised well above the $10,000 limit established in Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul. House Speaker Mike Johnson eventually agreed to the new $40,000 cap.  

“It would be very, very hard to get the Senate to vote for what the House did,” Thune told Politico. “We’ve just got some people that feel really strongly on this.”

The tax measure would also extend tax cuts from Trump’s first term that are to expire on Dec. 31, along with new tax relief, including temporarily exempting tips and overtime pay from taxes.

Representative Nick LaLota, a New York Republican, indicated that a reduction in the SALT benefit could jeopardize passage of the bill in the House.

“No SALT. No Deal. For Real,” he posted on X Tuesday night.

The House-passed version of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill would add $2.42 trillion to U.S. budget deficits over the next decade, according to a new estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO’s calculation, released Wednesday in its so-called scoring of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” reflects a $3.67 trillion decrease in expected revenues and a $1.25 trillion decline in spending over the decade through 2034, relative to baseline projections.

Prospects for an even more dire U.S. fiscal trajectory threaten to stoke concerns about the bill among GOP fiscal hawks. Trump ally Elon Musk on Tuesday blasted the package as a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”

House Republicans narrowly passed the bill last month, and it now faces opposition in the Senate, where multiple lawmakers have expressed varying demands for changes. Trump is expected to meet with Senate Finance Committee Republicans Wednesday to discuss the bill.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly dismissed CBO projections as inaccurate, saying they fail to account for the uplift to economic growth that the tax cuts, along with tariff hikes and deregulation, will provide. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month, “I’m not worried about the U.S. debt dynamics,” because a swelling GDP will ease the burden. He also predicted “north of 3%” growth by this time next year.

Timing for passage

The CBO’s $2.42 trillion deficit-increase estimate doesn’t incorporate any so-called dynamic effects from changes in economic growth or other indicators resulting from the new tax and spending measures.

Bessent has called on lawmakers to pass the bill, which includes an increase in the statutory debt limit, by mid-July. The Treasury has been using special accounting maneuvers to keep within the debt ceiling since the start of the year, and has warned it could exhaust its capacity in August.

Fiscal conservatives have demanded the measure do more for deficit reduction. But other GOP members have demanded that temporary tax cuts in the bill be made permanent — which would further dampen revenues. The CBO score will also be reviewed by the Senate’s rules-keeper who could determine whether provisions comply with the chamber’s requirements.

The bill encompasses much of Trump’s economic agenda. It would make permanent his 2017 income-tax cuts, and provide new benefits promised on the campaign trail — including eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay through 2028. It also raises the cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes to $40,000 from $10,000. 

The bill has various federal spending cuts, including to clean-energy credits, and features new work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries and new guidelines for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Some of those cuts also face opposition among Senate Republicans.

Wednesday’s CBO release indicated that measures in the existing bill could leave 10.9 million people without health insurance in 2034. That includes 1.4 million without verified citizenship, nationality or satisfactory immigration status who would no longer be covered in state-only funded programs.