United States – NY Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate’s Majority Leader, has held these events on artificial intelligence for quite a while now. Now, two leaders in the House are getting into the frame as legislators desperately try to regulate the ever-evolving tech.
Mike Johnson, R-La., and the Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., announced yesterday they are launching a bipartisan task force on artificial intelligence (AI) to see how AI can help America become a leader in AI innovation while studying guardrails to protect us against AI threats such as deepfakes, the spread of fake news, and job replacement, as reported by NBC news.
Bipartisanship at the Helm
Each House Leader appointed 12 members to the task force. It will be led by two Californians with computer science backgrounds: Co-Chairman Ted Lieu, a member of the Democratic leadership team who wrote a bill to regulate AI by AI chatbot ChatGPT, is a Democrat, and the Chairman, Jay Obernolte, is a Republican, who obtained his master’s degree in AI and runs a video game development company.
Both Obernolte and Lieu made an appearance in an NBC News story last year where they cautioned their fellow lawmakers to take the dangers posed by AI seriously, but they agreed that Congress has failed to pass regulations to regulate the powerful social media companies.
The new task force will be responsible for writing a cumulative report that will include guiding principles, recommendations, and policy proposals developed with the aid of House committees of jurisdiction, they said.
Congressional Mandate for AI Platforms
“Because advancements in artificial intelligence have the potential to rapidly transform our economy and our society, it is important for Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to understand and plan for both the promises and the complexities of this transformative technology,” Johnson said in a statement.
With that said, Congress has to keep rolling the ball to promote innovation and remain competitive nationally, uphold our national security, and afford to come up with suitable controls that would help ensure the development of safe and trusted technology.
Guardrails for AI Challenges
Jeffries added, “Congress has the mandate to create platforms for the emerging possibilities that AI brings about and to see to it that the everyday Americans share in the benefits stemming from a more just society.”
“The rise of artificial intelligence also presents a unique set of challenges, and certain guardrails must be put in place to protect the American people; Congress needs to work in a bipartisan way to ensure that America continues to lead in this emerging space while also preventing bad actors from exploiting this evolving technology.”
In addition to Obernolte, the other Republicans are Members Dunn Neal, Cammack Kat, Franklin Scott, and Lee Lee, all of Florida; Issa Darrell, California; Hill French, Arkansas; Cloud Michael, Texas; Cline Ben, Virginia; Burlison Eric, Missouri; and McCormick Rich, Georgia, as reported by NBC news.
In addition to Lieu, the other Democrats are Reps. Anna Eshoo, Yvette Clarke, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all of California; Ami Bera, Bill Foster, Suzanne Bonamici, Don Beyer, Haley Stevens, Valerie Foushee and Brittany Pettersen, all of New York; Virginia; Michigan; North Carolina; and Colorado, respectively.
Additional AI Forum
Similarly, another California Democrat, Rep. Ro Khanna, hosted an AI forum on Capitol Hill on Feb 15th, revolving around the issues of worker equity, deception, and manipulation using AI, as well as the ways through which American society, notably children, should be ready for an AI-integrated world, as reported by NBC news.
AI academics, labor representatives, and sci-fi writer Ted Chiang were part of the participants.