Global Courant 2023-04-29 11:00:06
EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launches effort to educate members of Congress about artificial intelligence as rapidly advancing technology invades more facets of everyday life and pressure to regulate it mounts.
Against the backdrop of hours of tense negotiations that ultimately led to House Republicans approving their debt limit earlier this week, lawmakers this week took time to hear from two MIT-based AI experts.
Heading into Tuesday’s meeting, McCarthy emphasized a two-pronged approach to AI, noting that its relevance spanned multiple congressional committees.
“It’s great because members on both sides of the aisle can be here. They can learn more before we do any legislation,” he told Fox News Digital in a brief interview. “We’re all in this together, it doesn’t matter which committee you’re on.”
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Speaker of the House Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) addresses the media at the Capitol on April 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. The US House of Representatives voted and passed a bill that raises the debt ceiling. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Lawmakers heard from MIT professors Antonio Torralba and Aleksander Madry as part of a session McCarthy set up for lawmakers.
“I took some members to MIT over a year ago,” McCarthy said. “MIT actually had a course on AI and quantum that the generals in our military take, so I also had them develop a course for members of our Intel committee and others,” McCarthy said. “You can never go wrong with Congress … being educated on issues, and especially issues that will continue into the future.”
He told Fox News Digital that he had spoken with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, about a possible meeting with members in a similar setting.
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“I will continue to hold these on many different topics to better educate the entire Congress on topics,” the speaker added.
AI is increasingly becoming a hot topic on Capitol Hill as its growing prevalence in society forces legislators to consider both the benefits and the dangers.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman may be visiting the conference soon to talk about AI. (Getty Images)
That included talks about whether it’s time to put regulatory barriers to the use and development of AI. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a broad framework earlier this month calling on companies developing AI to have outside experts review their technology before it becomes publicly available for use.
But McCarthy argued that Congress should take time to understand the industry first, and criticized Schumer’s approach as “political.”
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“What you want to do first is you want to collect all the information,” he said when asked if Congress should put up regulatory barriers to AI. “I mean, I saw Schumer go out and say he wanted to (regulate AI). Schumer uses a flip phone. I’m not sure a guy with a flip phone who doesn’t even know how to use a smartphone should talk about what he’s doing in AI.”
“That’s why I think the best approach here is to bring in some of the brightest minds to talk about it before you legislate on it,” he said.
Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, DC, on March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
“These briefings are about how we inform ourselves collectively — it doesn’t matter what committee you’re on — about a new issue, so we’re gathering information before we go into the legislative process,” McCarthy told members during the session, according to his office.
That meeting took place the same week that Tesla founder Elon Musk met with Schumer and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The billionaire tweeted after they discussed AI regulation.
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Musk has spoken out about the rapid advancement of AI, while also making public statements about creating a rival chatbot to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and using AI in its Tesla autonomous driving cars.
“Meeted today with (Schumer) and many members of Congress about the regulation of artificial intelligence,” Musk said earlier this week. “That which affects the safety of the public has become regulated over time to ensure that companies do not cut corners. AI has great power to do good and evil. Better the former.”
Elizabeth Elkind is a political reporter for Fox News Digital.
