WASHINGTON — Federal regulations regarding data privacy and collection may lead to the United States falling behind countries like China in developing artificial intelligence and neural networks for healthcare, a speaker said here.

A bipartisan effort in the Senate to regulate data collection and privacy has been a point of emphasis this year, with hopes that federal legislation to protect consumers would be passed by the fall, Alison Pepper, senior vice president of 4As, said at the Rising Leaders Conference on Healthcare Policy.