Democrat Urges Quick Action on AI Regulations to Spark a Revolution

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated on Wednesday that the swift expansion of artificial intelligence tools is a pivotal moment of revolution, and emphasized the need for the government to promptly regulate companies involved in its development.

The New York Democrat said he is working on “very ambitious” bipartisan legislation to maximize the technology’s benefits and mitigate significant risks.

While Schumer did not reveal the specifics of such legislation, he did offer some key goals: protecting U.S. elections from AI-generated misinformation or interference, protecting U.S. workers and intellectual property rights, preventing the exploitation of AI algorithms, and creating new guardrails to combat bad actors.

AI legislation should also promote American innovation, Schumer said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

“Used correctly, artificial intelligence promises to change life on Earth for the better,” Schumer said. “It will shape the way we fight disease, fight hunger, manage our lives, enrich our minds and ensure peace. But there are also real dangers: job displacement, misinformation, a new age of weapons, and the risk of not being able to fully master this new technology.”

Schumer’s announcement of urgency comes weeks after scientists and tech industry leaders, including high-level executives from Microsoft and Google, warned of the dangers artificial intelligence poses to humanity.

“Mitigating the risk of AI-induced extinction should be a global priority alongside other societal risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the statement said.

Concerns about AI systems outsmarting humans and running wild have increased in recent months as a new generation of highly capable AI chatbots like ChatGPT has emerged. It has sent countries around the world scrambling to develop regulations for the emerging technology, with the European Union leading the way with its AI bill, which is expected to pass later this year.

President Joe Biden convened a group of technology leaders in San Francisco on Tuesday to discuss the “risks and enormous promises” of artificial intelligence. In May, the administration convened tech CEOs at the White House to discuss these issues, and the Democratic president told them, “There’s enormous potential and enormous danger in what you’re doing.”

“We’re going to see more technological change in the next 10 years than in the last 50 years,” Biden said.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients’ office is developing a set of actions the federal government can take in the coming weeks regarding artificial intelligence, according to the White House.

Schumer’s hands-on involvement in crafting AI legislation is unusual, as Senate leaders usually leave the task to individual senators or committees. But he has taken a personal interest in regulating the development of artificial intelligence, arguing that it is urgent because companies have already introduced human-like chatbots and other products that could change life as we know it. He is working with fellow Democrats, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Sens. Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, and Todd Young of Indiana, to talk with experts, train colleagues and write legislation.

It’s an unexpected role especially for Schumer, who is known to carry a low-tech flip phone, and for the entire Senate, where the pace of legislation is often glacial.

Senators are on average around retirement age and are not known for managing high technology. In recent years, they’ve been mocked for asking basic questions in hearings — for example, asking Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg simple questions about how his platform works during a 2018 hearing on Russian interference — and the reluctance of both parties to regulate the tech industry at all.

Schumer and several Republican colleagues say the federal government can no longer afford to have a laissez-faire relationship with tech companies.

“If the government doesn’t intervene, who will fill that place?” Schumer asked. “Individuals and the private sector cannot do the work of protecting our country. While many developers have good intentions, there will always be criminal actors, unscrupulous companies, and foreign adversaries trying to harm us. And companies are not necessarily willing to install guardrails themselves, especially if their competitors are not required to install them as well.”

Schumer said regulating AI is unlike anything Congress has tackled before.

It is unclear whether Schumer will be able to achieve his goals. The effort is in its early stages, and a bipartisan task force has just begun a series of briefings for all 100 senators to get them up to speed. Legislation in the House to regulate or control artificial intelligence has been scattered, and Republican leaders have not set ambitious goals.

Schumer acknowledged that there are more questions than answers about the technology.

“It’s not like labor or health care or defense where Congress has a long history that we can work from,” Schumer said. “In fact, experts admit that no one is even sure what questions policymakers should be asking. In many ways, we are starting from scratch.