The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: When Will Congress Regulate It?

They say that predicting the future is not magic. It’s really simple artificial intelligence.

If that’s the case, then perhaps we should ask AI when Congress can pass legislation to regulate new technologies – before they get out of hand.

Congressional leaders are pushing for approval of legislation to regulate AI when lawmakers return to Washington after the election. But the path to transition and consensus on setting barriers to AI is far from clear.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck SchumerDN.Y., promised to take legislative action on AI last year.

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“It can’t be days or weeks. But also years. This will be a general category of months,” Schumer said.

New York The Democrat convened several artificial intelligence forums on Capitol Hill to tell senators about the promise—and dangers—of artificial intelligence. Schumer has attracted tech titans and innovators, from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg to Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI.

“This is kind of an important, urgent and in some ways unprecedented moment, and I think we really need the government to take the lead,” Altman said at the time.

Congress has a mixed record of setting standards and best practices for new technologies.

Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse code and developer of the telegraph, brought his newfangled system to Washington to demonstrate it to the federal government. He ran a wire between two rooms of the Capitol in the 1840s, demonstrating how to transmit signals and messages along the line. Then in 1844, Morse extended a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore for a private demonstration of the technology to Washington’s influential people. Morse conveyed the words “What hath God done” with Supreme Court chamber inside the Capitol. But the federal government wasn’t buying it. And that’s partly why the US has always had private control over telecommunications compared to other countries.

AND What that is what Congress “did.”

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Congress really got involved in the 1920s and 1930s with this new thing called radio. There were no restrictions on power, capacity or footprint. Signals from various broadcasters were attacking each other. Broadcasters have asked Congress to regulate their activities through legislation. This became the formal beginning of federal telecommunications policy.

In the 1990s, however, legislators did not fare so well in their battles with the Internet, formerly known as the “information superhighway.” There were concerns about First Amendment and stifling innovation. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a landmark piece of legislation. But today, some legislators may wish to approach this legislation a little differently, given the current status of the digital airwaves.

“We know there is extraordinary potential and opportunity here. But there is also some danger,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana.

Johnson and other conservatives are suspicious of big government stifling the potential of AI.

“We want to resist over-regulation. The innovation aspect of AI is very important,” Johnson said. “I believe in the Reagan principle: less government is the solution. The government is the problem itself. So we want to be very careful.”

Johnson and others believe that European Union Earlier this year, he went too far when he approved the AI ​​Regulation Bill, the first comprehensive AI legal framework anywhere in the world. EU law creates four areas of risk when using AI. Prohibited under EU law is “unacceptable risk”. Here, AI exploits a person’s vulnerabilities due to their race, disability, or social status. There are concerns that AI could study biometric data to classify people. As a result, the EU can manipulate people through subtle methods. This could lead them to come to dangerous conclusions or potentially take harmful actions – thanks to their interactions with AI.

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The EU also wants to ensure consistency between artificial intelligence systems that come to market. This will essentially create a “level playing field” for AI users.

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia, is pursuing a master’s degree in artificial intelligence at George Mason University. He suggests it’s not just free-market conservatives like Johnson who want to limit government influence over artificial intelligence.

“None of us wants to imitate European Union law on artificial intelligence, which we consider very normative. Very prescriptive. We want it to be light enough to ensure that America continues to be a center of innovation, imagination and creativity,” Beyer said.

However, Beyer offers a word of caution.

“Some regulation will probably be necessary because there will be bad actors,” Beyer said.

What about the speed at which legislation is passed? Beyer says he’s not concerned.

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“This is much faster than what we were able to respond to, for example, on social media. We have done very little. One of the things that is under consideration is a major privacy bill. We never had a real Privacy Act in American History,” Beyer said.

Last year, the House of Representatives formed a task force on artificial intelligence. Rep. Jay Obernolti, 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 influenced by 50 years of science fiction and pop culture. So, if you ask the average American what the biggest negative potential of AI is, they will tell you something from the Terminator movie, where an army of evil robots rises to take over the world. That’s not what we’re worried about,” Obernolte said.

But what really worries Obernolte is the potential for AI to spread misinformation, violate your privacy, and even make malicious financial transactions without your knowledge.

“All this keeps us up at night. Collectively, this is probably as important as an army of evil robots,” Obernolte admitted.

But can Congress act before AI does?

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“Under Republican control We’ve just had trouble keeping the lights on this term in Congress,” sighed Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., another co-chair of the artificial intelligence task force.

The AI ​​task force’s report is due later this year.

What does this say? What legislative solutions can legislators propose? Can Congress pass the bill? Will the election results affect these opportunities?

Not clear.

But maybe ask the AI.