US Senate Hearings Seek Solutions to AI Dangers

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Facts

• Congress is this week holding three hearings on the regulation of artificial intelligence, with top industry executives and experts set to attend.¹
• The first hearing — titled 'Oversight of AI: Legislating on Artificial Intelligence' — took place Tuesday and was headed by senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley, who lead the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law. The hearing will be the subcommittee's third this year about AI regulation.²
• The hearing also came days after the two senators released their one-page legislative framework for regulating AI, which called for the creation of an independent oversight body AI companies would have to register with, among other legislative measures.³
• Separately on Tuesday, Senators John Hickenlooper and Marsha Blackburn — who lead a Commerce and Science subcommittee — held a hearing discussing ways in which AI companies can boost transparency and earn the trust of the public.⁴
• The main event of the AI-focused week will take place Wednesday, when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is set to hold his first AI Insight Forum. All 100 senators are set to hear from some of the biggest names in the tech and AI industries on the day, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, and Bill Gates.⁵
• A House Oversight subcommittee will also hold a hearing Thursday to discuss potential dangers in federal agency adoption of AI, along with evaluating the need for safeguards to protect privacy and ensure equity.¹

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Guardian, ³NBC, ⁴Yahoo news and ⁵Washington Post.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Fedscoop. Keeping society safe from the dangers of AI will require legislation. These hearings and meetings between lawmakers and tech industry professionals are crucial to keeping the public safe from the harms of AI. This technology, while exciting, has the possibility to cause great harm, and safeguards must be put in place to mitigate disaster and regulate this powerful innovation.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Wired. While safeguards should be put in place to ensure AI technology is not used for nefarious purposes, government regulation of the technology could stifle creativity and innovation. It is also unclear how any government oversight body could possibly have the broad range of technical and legal knowledge required to oversee the use of AI technology in a plethora of sectors. This topic is going to need extensive discussion and research before any sort of legislation should be passed.

Predictions