“As AI Booms, Lawmakers Struggle to Understand the Technology: Tech Innovations Are Again Racing ahead of Washington’s Ability to Regulate Them, Lawmakers and AI Experts Said”, 2023-03-03 (; backlinks):
In recent weeks, two members of Congress have sounded the alarm over the dangers of artificial intelligence. Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, wrote in a guest essay in The New York Times in January that he was “freaked out” by the ability of the ChatGPT chatbot to mimic human writers. Another Democrat, Representative Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, gave a one-minute speech—written by a chatbot—calling for regulation of AI
…In November 2016, the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness held the first congressional hearing on AI, with Musk’s warnings cited twice by lawmakers. During the hearing, academics and the chief executive of OpenAI, a San Francisco lab, batted down Musk’s predictions or said they were at least many years away.
…More recently, some government officials have tried bridging the knowledge gap around AI In January, about 150 lawmakers and their staffs packed a meeting, hosted by the usually sleepy AI Caucus, that featured Jack Clark, a founder of the AI company Anthropic.
…In January, Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, visited several members of Congress to demonstrate GPT-4, a new AI model that can write essays, solve complex coding problems and more, according to Mr. Beyer and Mr. Lieu. Mr. Altman, who has said he supports regulation, showed how GPT-4 will have greater security controls than previous AI models, the lawmakers said.
Mr. Lieu, who met with Mr. Altman, said the government couldn’t rely on individual companies to protect users. He plans to introduce a bill this year for a commission to study AI and for a new agency to regulate it. “OpenAI decided to put controls into its technology, but what is to guarantee another company will do the same?” he asked.