It is said that predicting the future is not magic. That’s just artificial intelligence.
If so, maybe we should ask AI when Congress will pass legislation to regulate emerging technologies before things spiral out of control.
Congressional leaders want lawmakers to approve legislation to regulate AI when they return to Washington after the election. But the path to passage and consensus on establishing AI guardrails is far from certain.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York promised legislation on AI last year.
Reporter’s Note: The hard part is yet to come.
“It can’t be days or weeks. But it shouldn’t be years either. It would be in the general range of months,” Schumer said.
The New York Democratic Party has held multiple AI forums on Capitol Hill to educate senators about the potential and dangers of AI. Schumer has brought in tech giants and innovators, from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg to OpenAI founder Sam Altman.
“I think this is kind of an important and urgent and in some ways unprecedented moment, and we really need government leadership,” Altman said at the time.
Many Americans are wondering. When will Congress begin to regulate the seemingly limitless medium of generative AI? (Getty Images)
Congress has a strong track record of establishing standards and best practices for new technologies.
Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse code and developer of the telegraph, brought his new system to Washington to show off to the federal government. He demonstrated how to send signals and messages by stringing wire between two rooms in the Capitol in the 1840s. Morse then ran a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore in 1844, privately demonstrating his skills to power brokers in Washington. Morse delivered the words “What God Has Wrought” from the Supreme Court’s chambers inside the Capitol. But the federal government did not recognize it. And that’s part of the reason why there has always been private control of telecommunications in the United States compared to other countries.
And that is exactly what Congress has “accomplished.”
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Congress intervened in the 1920s and 1930s with this new thing called “radio.” There were no limitations on power, wattage, or footprint. Signals from different stations overlapped with each other. Broadcasters appealed to Congress to regulate them through legislation. This was the official beginning of federal communications policy.
But in the 1990s, lawmakers fared less well in debates over the Internet, once known as the “information superhighway.” There were concerns about the First Amendment and stifling innovation. Congress approved the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a landmark law. However, given the current state of the digital ether, some lawmakers may want to treat this bill a little differently today.
“We know this has extraordinary potential and potential, but it also comes with some risks,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) expressed concern about the federal government’s jurisdiction over AI-related concerns. (Getty Images)
Johnson and other conservatives worry that big government will negate the potential of AI.
“We want to resist over-regulation. The innovation aspect of AI is very important,” Johnson said. “I believe in President Reagan’s principle that smaller government is the answer. Government itself is the problem, so we want to be very careful.”
Johnson and others believe the European Union went too far when it approved the AI Regulation Bill (the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for AI) earlier this year. EU law creates four areas of risk in the use of AI. EU law prohibits “unacceptable risks”. AI exploits someone’s vulnerabilities due to race, disability, or social status. There are concerns that AI will study biometric data to classify people. As a result, the EU was able to manipulate people through sophisticated techniques. Interactions with AI can lead to dangerous conclusions and potentially harmful actions.
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The EU also requires compatibility between AI systems entering the market. This effectively creates a “level playing field” for AI users.
Representative Don Beyer, Democrat of Virginia, is pursuing a master’s degree in AI at George Mason University. He suggests it’s not just free-market conservatives like Johnson who want to limit government influence on AI.
“None of us want to emulate the European Union’s AI law, which we think is very regulatory and very prescriptive. We believe that the United States remains a center of innovation, imagination, and creativity. We want to make it mild enough to continue,” Beyer said.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) expressed reluctance to reflect on the European Union’s far-reaching AI law as “very restrictive.” (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
But Beyer is sounding a note of caution.
“There will probably be some regulation needed because there are bad actors out there,” Bayer said.
What about the speed of passage of the bill? Mr. Byer says he’s not worried.
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“It’s much faster than we could have reacted to, for example, on social media. We’re not doing anything. One of the things that’s pending is a big privacy bill. We’ve never had a real privacy law in American history,” Beyer said.
The House of Representatives established a special committee on AI last year. Representative Jay Obanolte (R-Calif.) is one of the co-chairs. He says people shouldn’t be afraid of AI.
“Unfortunately, AI is a topic that has been informed by 50 years of science fiction and pop culture, so if you ask the average American what the biggest potential downside of AI is, you will get a Terminator movie-like answer. It’s going to come back. An army of evil robots rising up to take over the world is not what we’re worried about,” Obernolte said.
Courtesy of AI, California Republican Rep. Jay Obanorte dismissed typical concerns about “evil robots” taking over the world. But he worries that bad actors could use it to spread misinformation or conduct low-level financial transactions. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
But Obernolte worries that AI could spread misinformation, violate data privacy, and even unknowingly conduct malicious financial transactions.
“These are all things that keep us up at night. All of these combined have an impact that is probably as significant as an army of evil robots,” Obernolte acknowledged.
But can Congress act before AI?
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Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), the other co-chair of the AI task force, said with a sigh, “This Congress is under Republican control and is having a hard time keeping the lights on.” I hit it.
The AI Task Force is expected to submit a report later this year.
What does it say? What legal solutions can lawmakers propose? Can Congress pass legislation? Will the outcome of the election affect these possibilities?
Unclear.
But why not ask the AI?
