Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday launched a proposal to create new rules for the emerging world of artificial intelligence, with the goal of accelerating American innovation while avoiding a dystopian future.
In a speech at a Washington think tank, Schumer called for more federal involvement in maintaining US competitiveness.
Schumer said that would require careful attention to mitigate the potential harms of artificial intelligence, according to the American Wall Street Journal.
“The number one issue that needs to be addressed is encouraging innovation, not stifling it,” Schumer explained at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But if people don’t believe that innovation can be done safely, it will slow the development of AI and even prevent us from moving forward.”
“With so much potential, the United States should lead innovation and write the rules for regulating artificial intelligence, and not let adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party formulate the standards for cutting-edge technology,” he added in a fact sheet.
Schumer joins the Biden administration, tech industry leaders and other members of Congress in seeking to put limits on the technology, amid concerns that AI tools could be misused to manipulate voters, weed out sophisticated financial crimes, displace millions of workers or cause other harm.
But imposing new regulations on a range of technologies still in development will be difficult for Congress, which often waits years or decades before creating firewalls for new industries.
In addition, lawmakers will try to impose new rules in a number of areas — such as copyright and liability — as tech companies have been wrestling with other industries and consumers for years.
In his speech, Schumer said that AI “can spark a new era of technological advancement, scientific discovery, and industrial might.”
He called on lawmakers to help balance cooperation and competition between companies, to assess how much, if any, federal financial aid is needed, to define the appropriate gap between private and open AI systems, and to consider how the United States can ensure that the technology can be harnessed by the many, not just the few. of the big companies.
Adam Kovacevic, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Industry Group, said that these factors will make it more difficult for Schumer to push AI initiatives through Congress than the semiconductor and science funding bill that Schumer led last year. the United States on its superiority, rather than organizing the damage.”
And in brief remarks Tuesday at a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence in San Francisco, President Biden also emphasized the risks inherent in artificial intelligence as well as the close attention his administration gives to the subject. “We’re going to see more technological change in the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the last 50 years,” Biden said. “Social media has already shown us the damage powerful technology can do.”
It is noteworthy that Elon Musk made a rare visit to Congress in the spring and spoke with Schumer about artificial intelligence, and Musk was cautious about artificial intelligence.
