The rise of AI memes has been touted by politicians who want to regulate AI as evidence that the government should regulate AI businesses.
As Congress explores how to deal with the rapidly evolving technology, lawmakers are kicking around ideas concerning guardrails for artificial intelligence.
Hearings on the topic have recently increased after Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said last month that he had disseminated a broad framework outlining a regulatory system for the technology. He opened the hearing by playing a video that looked like him, sounded like him, but was not him.
Legislators and some industry leaders have already signaled that they don’t want the government to sit on the sidelines while AI develops. They advocate for government intervention, such as creating a governmental agency to regulate AI.
The CEO of an AI startup, OpenAI, recently shared his concern with senators that AI and the business it supports might “cause significant harm to the world.”
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voiced their approval of a new agency to regulate the technology, asked about international cooperation, and showed a strong desire to ensure that AI corporations may be held legally liable for their actions.
There has already been legislation proposed on AI by some legislators. New York Democrat Yvette D. Clarke has introduced legislation mandating disclosures in political ads using AI-generated visuals.
Legislators have grave worries that the technology may decimate the labor force, invade citizens’ privacy, influence their actions, and disseminate false information, which has helped to bring it to the public’s notice.
On Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified before a Senate subcommittee advocating for a regulatory body to oversee AI programs “above a certain scale of capabilities.”
He spoke before a Judiciary Committee subcommittee and argued that a regulatory body should be allowed to issue permits for cutting-edge AI research and revoke them from firms that violate safety regulations.
One senator proposed that the agency model its operations after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which issues permits for and closely monitors the operation of nuclear power facilities. Altman concurred.
Earlier in the day, Altman warned senators that things might go wrong with the technology, and he wasn’t talking about confusing or offensive memes.
